382 Van Gogh's ear for music

Van Gogh’s ear for music

He managed just fine in the music industry even though he has a Van Gogh’s ear for music. He used to take care of musical supplies.

(humorous)To be tone-deaf; unable to distinguish differences in musical pitch.

The origin obviously comes from the incident of Van Gogh. On Dec 23, 1888, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, cut off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles, France. He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Van Gogh, after cutting his ear off and rendering himself deaf he continued to play loud music and tried to sing along too. He was always off key of course. So the expression also refers to someone who can’t sing very well.

E.g., Her singing is so bad; she has Van Gogh’s ear for music.

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