Besides for his artworks, Vincent van Gogh is also known for his eccentric and conflicted life (Mota, 2021). Although he was always interested in art, there was a period where he was more acquainted with his faith, turning away from art to pursue a degree in theology which he was unfortunately never able to acquire (Blumer, 2002). Despite that, at the age of 27 he started working again to make art for the people. During his whole lifetime, he had numerous manic episodes where his mental illness took over his life, also resulting in him being hospitalised.
The most famous incident happened after an argument with the artist Paul Gauguin, in which van Gogh cut off part of his left earlobe (Blumer, 2002). However it is worth noting that it was while going through these difficult episodes that he also created many of the masterpieces we still look at today. For instance, three weeks after he had cut off part of his ear, he created the 'Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear and Pipe' (Blumer, 2002). It was in this period that Vincent began illustrating his struggles in his artworks. By looking at his work, the younger generations can relate to him and learn about his art as well as his personal life (Bailey, 2023). Thus, the combination of his mental illness and his extraordinary artworks is what makes him interesting for people all around the world. This is because, through his creativity, they can understand and make sense of mental health issues (Mota, 2021). However, it was quite surprising to notice that this figurine still illustrates him with his left ear. This opens the question of why Funko Inc. chose to portray him like that even though his mental illness took a great part of his life and in influencing his artworks.
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