Sunflower Power

A clash of temperament and artistic style, a dream of artistic brotherhood soured by jealousy and the desire to assert dominance. That is the subtext of a major exhibition opening in Amsterdam this month tracing the relationship between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, two of the 19th century's greatest painters. The nine weeks the two men spent together in southern France in 1888 culminated in one of the most dramatic events in the history of modern art: Van Gogh slicing off a piece of his ear after a quarrel with Gauguin.

Their relationship has been the subject of...