AMSTERDAM’S renowned Van Gogh Museum unveiled a new exhibition Tuesday focusing on Vincent Van Gogh’s final 18 months of mental anguish before he shot himself in 1890, including the suspected gun he used in his suicide.

    Called “On the Verge of Insanity,” the exhibition seeks to answer questions such as why Van Gogh cut off his ear, and the precise nature of his mental illness that ultimately led to his death in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris at the age of 37.

    One of the most interesting exhibition pieces is the small-calibre revolver believed to have been the weapon Van Gogh used to shoot himself in the chest.

    “The small, badly corroded revolver from a private collection and being shown for the first time, might be the weapon with which Van Gogh sought to end his life,” the Van Gogh Museum said.

    Van Gogh shot himself July 27, 1890 and managed to stumble back to the inn where he was staying before succumbing to his wound 30 hours later. At the time the suicide weapon was not found.

    Around 1960 an Auvers farmer working on his land discovered the rusty gun, a 7.0 mm Lefaucheux pocket revolver, in the fields where Van Gogh shot himself.

    “The degree of corrosion suggested that the weapon lay in the ground for 50 to 60 years,” the museum said in a statement.

    “Its limited firepower offers a possible explanation why the bullet fired at close range glanced off Van Gogh’s rib,” it added.

    “The bullet was deflected downwards and was lodged too deep to be removed without danger, as a result of which Van Gogh died of his wound some 30 hours later.”

    Another fascinating exhibition piece is a recently discovered letter from doctor Felix Rey, the physician who treated Van Gogh in the hospital after he cut off his left ear while living in the southern French town of Arles.

    (SD-Agencies)