He has become the image of a “tortured artist.” His fame is due to his painting, of course, but it is his life that took him beyond a famous painter and made him a legend. Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles, France. Van Gogh, meanwhile, delivered the severed ear to a prostitute and then staggered home, where police discovered him the following day, the new account claims. Outside of his paintings, when people think of van Gogh they think of his ear - … Vincent van Gogh has become much more than just a painter.