It is arguably the best-known story in the history of art: Vincent van Gogh lops off part of his ear in a moment of insanity and drops it off at a brothel.

The facts behind how the artist mutilated himself and what happened next can now be told for the first time, according to experts, after crucial medical evidence was discovered.

A letter from Van Gogh’s doctor, Felix Rey, reveals that the painter did not remove just a section of his ear, after all, but severed it entirely.