Photos: Spot where Van Gogh painted his last canvas 'discovered'

A researcher claimed to have discovered the exact spot where Vincent Van Gogh painted his last canvas before his mysterious death from a gunshot wound. | Above: Roots on a hillside in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, thought to be the inspiration for Van Gogh’s final painting.

The tortured Dutch artist had been working on "Tree Roots", a jumble of brightly-coloured tree trunks, roots and stumps near Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris, on a hot July day in 1890 when he staggered back wounded to the village inn. | Above: “Tree Roots,” the 1890 painting by Van Gogh.

Wouter van der Veen (above), of the Van Gogh Institute, which looks after the artist's room at the Auberge Ravoux where he spent his final 70 days, said most of the tangle of roots is still there, a stone's throw from the inn.

Experts at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam have backed the finding, saying it was "an interpretation, but it looks like indeed it is true." | Above: General view of the alleged spot where Van Gogh painted his last canvas before his mysterious death from a gunshot wound, in Auvers-sur-Oise.

Van der Veen told AFP that he made the breakthrough from a postcard of the village from the turn of the 20th century, which shows an embankment with the trees on the main road through the hamlet, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Paris. He was going through some documents during the coronavirus lockdown when "my eye was caught by a detail from the postcard".

He compared it with the painting and found "that the trunks and roots corresponded. "Discovering the place where Van Gogh painted his last and most mysterious work is a waking dream which I am still trying to comprehend," the researcher added. | Above: The cemetery where Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo, are buried in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

Because of the way the light falls in the painting, Van der Veen said Van Gogh's canvas was probably from late in the afternoon, "about 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm". This, he argued, could help disprove the controversial theory that Van Gogh had not killed himself but had gotten drunk and fought with two local boys who shot him by accident.

The theory was first floated in a biography of the painter by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith nine years ago, and featured in the 2018 movie "At Eternity's Gate" starring Willem Dafoe. Its director, the American painter Julian Schnabel, told AFP when the film was released that Van Gogh was probably murdered. | Above: The cemetery where Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo, are buried in Auvers-sur-Oise.

Schnabel insisted that was a man who had painted 75 canvases in almost as many days at Auvers-sur-Oise was unlikely to be suicidal. | Above: The postcard from 1905 that led Wouter van der Veen to the location where the artist worked on “Tree Roots,” in Auvers-sur-Oise.

Schnabel also claimed that "the painting material he had that day was never found. "It is strange to bury your shit if you are committing suicide," he added. | Above: A church that Van Gogh painted in Auvers-sur-Oise.

But Van der Veen dismissed "these lousy theories", insisting that for him the painting was Van Gogh's final "testament, a farewell letter... Suicide had been an option for him for a year. | Above: The Oise River in Auvers-sur-Oise.

"The thicket of roots was a symbol of the struggles of life. We cut down the tree and from their stumps new shoots appear. "It makes sense, the theme of life and death, and eliminates all these lousy theories which do little for his memory," Van der Veen said. | Above: General view of the alleged spot where Van Gogh painted his last canvas before his mysterious death.

The revolver with which Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself sold for 162,500 euros ($182,000) at a Paris auction last year. | Above: General view of the alleged spot where Van Gogh painted his last canvas before his mysterious death.

Discovered in a field in the village, it was billed as "the most famous weapon in the history of art". The rusty 7mm Lefaucheux had already been exhibited at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. | Above: The fields of Auvers-sur-Oise, a favorite subject for Van Gogh.

While the Van Gogh Institute said the link with painter could not be proven conclusively, the bullet extracted from his stomach was the same calibre as the one used for the Lefaucheux revolver. | Above: Wouter van der Veen poses next to the alleged spot where Van Gogh painted his last canvas before his mysterious death.