Love and Murder

The Last Days of Vincent Van Gogh

De: Irving Arenberg

Narrado por: Sonny Swinhart

On July 29, 1890, a hot and muggy afternoon, shortly after Vincent van Gogh was laid to rest after his honor killing for “compromising” his doctor's twenty-one-year-old daughter, Marguerite, twenty-six of his unknown paintings and other art material were stolen from the hotel where he had been laid out for his final viewing by his doctor and his son.

This was the largest art heist of a single artist ever, and today would be worth many billions! This theft led to the Gachet art forgery ring and many fakes, forgeries, and altered provenance for years.

This is the story in book 2 of the Killing Vincent Trilogy of what happened to all this art and to Marguerite and her sad, long life without her Vincent. Book one was "Killing Vincent" and proved forensically that it was not possible for Vincent to self-inflict his mortal wound. If Vincent did not shoot himself in the belly, (of all places) then whoever put that penetrating wound in his abdomen murdered him!

Book two, Love and Murder, answers the questions of how, why, and where Vincent van Gogh was murdered and how a brilliant cover up of the murder was accomplished by the persons of interest using the false narrative of a suicide as a martyr for his art.

There is also a sneak preview of chapter one from book three "The Day Vincent Van Gogh Was Murdered; The Honor Killing That Changed Art History Forever and Led to the Greatest Art Heist in Modern Times". Hopefully this will you excite you to put the entire Killing Vincent Trilogy together in your mind’s eye in preparation for the major movie, "Finally Love."

©2023 Dr. Irv Arenberg (P)2023 Dr. Irv Arenberg

The author literally says “prove me wrong”

I’m a lifelong fan of Van Gogh and read everything I can about him. I was excited about this book, especially because the author had previously used his expertise as an ear surgeon to diagnose Van Gogh having Ménière’s disease rather than epilepsy.

I have genuinely never been more disappointed - and honestly outraged - by a book. This book is nothing more than speculative fantasy fiction.

He fundamentally claims he is more of an expert on Van Gogh’s life and death than any other expert - including the Van Gogh Museum.

The entire premise is to throw doubt on everything we’ve ever heard about Van Gogh. A good premise. But his wild claims and suppositions completely lack foundation…nor can he back anything up.

At the simplest level, he repeatedly questions why a full autopsy wasn’t performed. Well, it was 19th century, rural France. And the victim was an unknown artist, a well documented alcoholic and mentally ill person who had spent much time in actual asylums. He had no family and very very few friends.

The supposition that there should have been an autopsy is made through the lens of an author living 150 years later, applying modern views/assumptions where they simply don’t apply.

It gets way worse than that. Since there was no autopsy, Vincent didn’t kill himself…he wasn’t even shot. Now wait for it…

“Prove me wrong. Dig up Vincent’s body and show me the bullet.”

No, sweetie.



It’s also quite clear based on the author’s website and “foundation” that the whole purpose of this is not to advance the science/historical accuracy. He’s outright trying to pitch this as a movie or mini series.

Wish I hadn’t wasted a credit. Off to find better Van Gogh books to read.