MRW I learned that Van Gogh didn't kill himself, but instead was accidentally shot by a kid, so Van Gogh acted crazy and said he tried to kill himself so the kid wouldn't have his life ruined by being arrested. 

My professor told me this, so I don't know if all the little details are quite correct. But Van Gogh was deemed clinically insane all of his life, from his Mother's abuse to being an alcoholic, even the paint he used caused medical problems. But when he died he was actually getting better thanks to the hospital he was staying at (same place where he painted starry night) well one day he was in a field painting and a boy who was playing cowboy accidentally fired off a shot and hit Vincent in the stomach. Van Gogh proceeded to walk 3 miles back to the psych clinic he was staying at, when the police officers asked him what happened he said he thinks he shot himself, this was to cover for the kid that actually shot him, Vincent knew that since he was deemed insane in the past it would be a good cover, he then later died from the fatal shot.

TL;DR: Van Gogh covered a kid's ass so he wouldn't get in trouble for killing him.