Inspired by a piece in the December Vanity Fair: "Van Gogh: Suicide or Murder?" I started digging into the claims of the article. Allegedly, according to the authors, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Van Gogh was accidentally shot by a young kid who dressed up like Buffalo Bill, after having seen the Wild West showman in Paris in 1889 and strutting around Auvers-sur-Oise in his buckskins and big hat, twirling a pistol. Of course it is at Auvers-sur-Oise where Van Gogh died in 1890 and the punchline of the article is that the crazy Dutchman did not commit suicide, but was accidentally shot by the Wild West buff.
So, naturally, I decided to do this strange episode as a Classic Gunfight. I have aped Vincent before and have long admired his quirky drawing style (fellow artist Buck Taylor has more than once referred to me as the Van Gogh of Western Art).
Daily Whipout: "Van Gogh Bronco"
So now I am returning to the theme with a vengeance. Whipped these out this morning:
Daily Whipout: "Van Gogh Gunfighter Sketches"
"My pictures are of no value, though of course they cost me a great deal, at times even my blood and my brain."
—Vincent van Gogh