On December 23, 1888, Vincent van Gogh lost a piece of his left ear after a heated argument with Gauguin, his colleague and roommate in Arles. He wrapped her in newspaper and handed her over to a prostitute named Rachel, whom they both knew. The most widespread theory is that he cut it himself to attract attention, and after a short time he entered an institution to deal with his psychiatric problems. The other, disclosed by German investigators, is that the cut was made by his friend, the French painter, with a fencing sword, but they hid it from the police to avoid problems.
The Art Institute of Chicago has a dozen Van Gogh paintings in its Impressionist galleries, including The Room, The Drunkards, The Poet’s Garden and a self-portrait. Many people objected to last weekend’s holding of a Nascar race through the streets of the city (around Grant Park), arguing that the pollution from the vehicles would penetrate the walls of the museum and it would spoil the Dutchman’s paintings.
It wasn’t the only reason given, of course. Imagine that the ex-mayor Ada Colau, without consulting the citizens or the councillors, had signed a three-year contract with Formula 1 before the elections to hold a race on an urban circuit along Avinguda de Sarrià, Diagonal, the Rambla de Catalunya, Paseo de la Bonanova and Turó Park, with cars roaring at more than three hundred kilometers per hour. If the neighbors, who are already worried about the noise, force people to start collecting the tables from the terraces from eleven at night, it would have created an uproar.
Well, the same in Chicago. But former Mayor Lori Lightfoot (who lost office in November) did sign the contract with Nascar, with the intention of attracting visitors, filling hotels and restaurants, and raising $130 million for a city that — like San Francisco and others – is suffering the consequences of the pandemic: tens of thousands of offices have been left empty due to teleworking.
The Nascar organizers want to breathe new life into a competition full of noise and colour, but which has lost popularity in the last two decades, identified with the southern United States and whose circuits (Daytona Beach, Talladega… .) have only very recently banned Confederate flags. Racism is a serious problem, to the point that President Biden has been insulted, as well as the only prominent black man, Bubba Wallace, who races for the 23XI Racing Team, owned by Michael Jordan, whose car bears the same number which showed the legend on the shirt.
From 16% of Americans who two decades ago said they were big fans of Nascar, only 6% remain, and the idea is to expand the fan base to Hispanics and blacks by bringing the races to cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, in whose Colosseum two competitions have already been held (another thing is that they can afford tickets that range from 300 to 4,000 euros). But the more than affluent neighbors of Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive (the equivalent of Pedralbes) have not been amused by the closure of streets and shops, the traffic and the smell of burning tires, even despite being invited at a big launch party where a show car was on display with Van Gogh’s self-portrait (the same one from the museum) on the body. The new mayor, Brandon Johnson, says he will crunch the numbers and decide whether to keep the contract or end it, like the painter (or maybe Gauguin) with his ear.
