I thought it was for the love of a woman.

A woman (prostitute)was only part of the reason.

At Highschool, I made a study of Vincent as part of my visual arts program.

From what I remember:

The cutting off of Vincent's ear was a result of his mental illness brought on by lead poisoning (from the lead in his paint), his constant smoking of tobacco and drinking of absinthe, his fight with his friend Gaugin and his failure with women.

Psychologists have concluded that he cut off his ear because he could not longer bear to hear the truth.
His bad financial state, the paintings that failed to sell, and his coping with life in general.

Vincent van Gogh's story is a very sad one.
As a highly intelligent child who learnt at a faster speed than the average child, he didn't have many friends of his own age who could converse with him at the same level. It made him quite lonely.
A little Dutch boy, spending most of his free time taking long walks through fields and observing nature.

How sad that his art was not much appreciated back then, the lack of money depriving him of a healthy diet which also contributed to his ill-health- while it's selling for many millions today.

I have heard that he was schizophrenic (spelling?) and cut it off to try to get rid of the voices in his head.

You should really read the whole story. He was a facinating man.

A woman.

A woman was the reason.

Because they didn't have cd players or mp3 players back then & he didn't think he would miss it...We was taught in Art class about him, yes he was in love with that woman but he was mentally ill if I remember correctly. But was a good artist.