--- title: Replica of Vincent van Gogh's Severed Ear On Display in German Museum description: Thanks to DNA provided by one of the artist's distant relatives canonical: https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-04T14:12:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:20.213Z og:title: Now On Display: A Replica of van Gogh's Ear Made From a Relative's DNA og:description: Just head on over to Germany to check it out og:url: https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7c907350dcfbcf/6986961a169ab0d6b6279c12/germany-van-goghs-ea_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=886&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 886 og:image:height: 498 og:image:alt: Germany Van Gogh's Ear og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Now On Display: A Replica of van Gogh's Ear Made From a Relative's DNA twitter:description: Just head on over to Germany to check it out twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7c907350dcfbcf/6986961a169ab0d6b6279c12/germany-van-goghs-ea_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=886&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Head On Over to Germany to Check Out a Live Replica of Vincent van Gogh's Severed Ear > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jun 4, 2014 2:12 PM UTC  Undated picture shows an ear made of human cells grown from samples provided from a distant relative from Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, in the center for art and media in Karlsruhe, Germany, Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Undated picture shows an ear made of human cells grown from samples provided from a distant relative from Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, in the center for art and media in Karlsruhe, Germany, Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Diemut Strebe / AP by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jun 4, 2014 2:12 PM UTC You’ve probably heard the legend of how Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his own ear. Or how perhaps [someone _else_](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103990820) cut off his ear. Either way, somebody cut off van Gogh’s ear, and that has fascinated everybody ever since. If you’re _especially_ fascinated by van Gogh’s ear, then you should find some time in your schedule to head over to the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, to see a copy of it grown from DNA samples provided by one of van Gogh’s living relatives. Artist Diemut Strebe crafted the replica with living cells from Lieuwe van Gogh, the great-great-grandson of Vincent’s brother Theo, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/german-museum-shows-live-replica-van-goghs-ear). She used a 3D-printer to shape the cells into an ear-like shape, and then, because of this process, basically deemed herself an artist just like van Gogh. “I use science basically like a type of brush, like Vincent used paint,” Strebe told the AP. Okay, sure. The ear is now being kept alive with nourishing fluid and could, in theory, remain preserved for years, so that gives you plenty of time to go check it out. This current exhibition only lasts until July 6, and then the artist is considering putting it on display in New York. Oh, and if this was not creepy enough for you already, [you can “talk”](http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader%248887) to the ear. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/"},"headline":"Head On Over to Germany to Check Out a Live Replica of Vincent van Gogh's Severed Ear","datePublished":"2014-06-04T14:12:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:20.213Z","description":"Thanks to DNA provided by one of the artist's distant relatives","url":"https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/","keywords":["Newsfeed","History","Germany","museums"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7c907350dcfbcf/6986961a169ab0d6b6279c12/germany-van-goghs-ea_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee7c907350dcfbcf/6986961a169ab0d6b6279c12/germany-van-goghs-ea_gros.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Germany Van Gogh's Ear","caption":"Germany Van Gogh's Ear","creditText":"Diemut Strebe / AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2821862/head-on-over-to-germany-to-check-out-a-live-replica-of-vincent-van-goghs-severed-ear/","name":"Head On Over to Germany to Check Out a Live Replica of Vincent van Gogh's Severed Ear"}}]}] ```