In 1888, Vincent Van Gogh cut his left ear with a razor. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated by Dr Felix Rey. Van Gogh painted a portrait of Rey and gave it to him. Rey was not fond of it used it to repair a chicken coop, then gave it away. In 2016, it was valued at over $50 million.
Early the morning of the Christmas Eve 1888, a severely wounded man was brought to the Hôtel-Dieu of Arles for treatment.
On duty that night was Félix Rey, a young intern completing his thesis from the University of Montpellier.
The patient was Vincent van Gogh, who the night before feeling betrayed by Paul Gauguin had sliced part of his left ear with a razor and taken it to a prostitute, and who now suffered from not only blood loss but hallucinations.
