Museum unconvinced by new Van Gogh death theory

[October 17, 2011]  AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Experts at the Van Gogh Museum say they remain unconvinced by evidence in a new book that says the 19th-century Dutch artist was accidentally shot by two teenagers and did not die from self-inflicted wounds.

The biography published this week of Vincent van Gogh by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith says the artist, who suffered chronic depression, claimed to have shot himself to protect the boys, and that "he was covering up his own murder." He died two days later.

Leo Jansen, the museum curator and editor of Van Gogh's letters, said the biography, "Van Gogh, A Life," is a "great book." But experts "cannot yet agree" with the authors' conclusions about the painter's death.

Jansen said Monday the book revives enough unanswered questions to warrant another look.

[Associated Press]

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