A quote from the famous Dutch artist is popular on the network, from which users conclude about his ideological vegetarianism. We checked the correctness of such an attribution.

The statement attributed to Van Gogh can be found on vegetarian sites, in online collections Quoteas well as in social networks: Facebook, "VKontakte" Livejournal And X. In some cases, it is clarified that the artist talked about this in one of the letters to his brother Theo.

The post -impressionist Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most carefully studied artists in the history of mankind. A lot has been written about his short but rich life booksDozens are removed films, and dedicated to the artist Museums There is V different citiesWhere the artist had a chance to spend some time. The main one is Museum of Van Gogh In Amsterdam, annually receiving more than 2 million visitors. However, on site There are no traces of the phrase of interest to us.

Under the auspices of the Amsterdam museum there is a site vangoghletters.orgon which in digital form Stored All the 820 letters that Vincent Wang Gogh, as well as 25 notes, drafts and copies of some texts have survived. Each document can be read both in the original language (Dutch or French), and in English translation. Convenient mechanism allows you to look for texts by keywords.

As the search shows, in the letters of Van Gogh the word "cattle -beam" in various languages is not found. As for the mention of meat, here the picture is richer. Is it true, Significant Part cases In English translations, it is associated with the religious context and the word Meat in the meaning of "food". But there are other examples. So, in a letter to the brother of Theo from the Hague June 22, 1882 Vincent complains that she feels weak, because a woman who brought him smoked meat, sugar and bread, for some time does not go to him - she is hospitalized in connection with the upcoming births. A few weeks later he reportsthat after discharge from the hospital, on the advice of the doctor, she adheres to a restorative diet, and Vincent himself also plans to do the same - in particular, he writes, meat is enough to eat enough once or twice a week. There is also a certificate of Professor Gurlits - a neighbor Van Gogh around the room in 1876-1877 in Holland. That assertedthat Vincent did not eat meat, only a small portion on Sundays after long persuasion and four potatoes with a small amount of gravy and a handful of greens made up his entire lunch. Gurlitz also gives Van Gogh's explanation: “For a person, physical life should be a miserable detail; Plant food is enough, everything else is luxury. ”

Separate interest is the letters written by Van Gogh since 1888 when he He moved To the south of France, to Provence - to where he allegedly saw a cattle -beam (the mentions of this episode in the documents related to the artist, he also did not find it). So, September 10, 1889 He informs his brother that Pyron, the doctor of the mentally ill, in which Van Gogh found himself, gave him a little wine and meat, which he willingly accepts in the first days after the exacerbation. In one of the following letters theo reminds brother that he should eat meat.

Thus, it cannot be said that Vincent Van Gogh did not use meat - the reverse testimonies are available in various periods of his life. At the same time, he ate this product quite limited-both because of an almost poor life and because of the diet chosen for himself. It is difficult to judge its reasons - judging by another late Letter A brother, the artist did not feel any moral discomfort, portraying one resident of Marseille for eating Buyabes, Provensal fish soup. Based on the scatter in years, it is impossible to single out a certain moment when Van Gogh switched to food mainly of plant origin, but this was definitely before moving to the south of France. At least to make the artist an icon of vegetarianism with such omnivorousness is not entirely correct. And here is the site Vegnews A little more reasonably calls him the godfather of flexitarianism - mainly a plant diet that allows the use of animal flesh in the food.

In any authoritative source, the phrase about meat and cattle could not be found. But they composed it, most likely, people who knew about the limited nutrition of the Dutchman. In Russian on the network, she begins to meet in the 2010 area in the selection "Statements about vegetarianism", Where quotes of different celebrities are collected in support of this lifestyle. A few years earlier, the phrase appears in English, also in similar selection. The earliest mention discovered “verified” is the article by Stephen Kellman published in 2000 ”Fish, flesh and violation of the rules", In which the information is given not in the form of a quote, but as a fact:" Van Gogh became a vegetarian after visiting a cattle -beam. " Similar really It happened With some people, however, about Vincent Van Gogh today it is impossible and there is no evidence of the existence of the studied quote.

Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons