In February 1888, in the fields of southern France, the sun was shining and the fields were endless, and a man was crazy, running toward the sun with tears in his eyes.
He was so stunned by the view in front of him that he wrote to his brother that he was going to paint here.
The local peasants, who thought this man was particularly strange, every day before the sun rose, he ran to the field with a large bundle of canvas and paint, his eyes glowing with a fiery light, he did not wear a hat, he did not talk to anyone, and when he returned in the evening, his eyes became hollow, and the top of his head was red from the hot sun.
The little hair on his head stood upright, and there was a painting under his armpit that had not yet dried out, and those who saw him whispered: Crazy!
At the end of the year, he seemed to be really crazy, holding a razor, tugging at his right ear, mercilessly a knife, blood all over his face, but he did not care, his friend Gauguin was also a "violent" madman, but at this time, he was still frightened to see his behavior.
Yes, this man is the great painter Van Gogh.
A year later, Van Gogh said goodbye to the world by firing a revolver in the abdomen in a wheat field outside the town.
When he was alive, his paintings were unloved and could not be sold, and many years after his death, his paintings suddenly became extremely valuable, and the most expensive ones even exceeded 100 million US dollars.
More than 100 years ago, Van Gogh had completed his paintings, but the world could not understand, more than 100 years later, people realized that the beauty he had expressed was so shocking, but Van Gogh had long passed away.
I often wonder, why are many geniuses so difficult to understand by their contemporaries?
Later I saw a saying that they were ahead of their contemporaries, and those who were contemporaries needed to follow in their footsteps and see what they had seen in order to truly understand them.
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In 1880, at the age of 27, Van Gogh could no longer suppress the impulse to paint in his soul and decided to heed the call of the soul and become a painter.
Not long ago, after Van Gogh, a missionary, was deposed from his priesthood, he was exhausted, had no job, no money, not even the most basic health, and his family wrote that his life was an affront to all noble social traditions.
At this time, Van Gogh is like a lost lamb, not knowing where life is going. He buried his head in the book, trying to find the answer from it, he was so poor that he was supported by his father and brother, and he had to eat a meal in two, and he kept it half full every day.
His brother Theo came to see him, persuaded him to go home and get a job, and said to him, "Big brother, you have to change your lifestyle." ”
For this reason, Van Gogh was so angry that he quarreled with his brother, and after his brother left, he wrote again:
I'm glad you came to see me.
I don't want to go home for the time being, I want to stay here, and I can't say what the purpose is.
He went on to say:
I want to make my life better, don't you think I've been working on it? It is normal for people to pursue a better life than they are now, but if you change yourself in order to pursue this goal, wouldn't you demean yourself?
After a while, Van Gogh knew what he was going to do, he had to paint.
So, he saved money, bought some pencils and white paper, and began to draw, but he did not understand the knowledge of painting anatomy, and the proportions were not accurate, so he decided to start with copying.
To copy, you have to copy the works of the masters, such as Miller's "Labor in the Field" and "The Sower", in addition to copying, he also went out to sketch, or asked other painters for advice.
He told his father that he would strive to be a great painter, that it was his last choice, and that he would never change his mind again.
A hundred years later, Van Gogh's expectations became a reality.
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Van Gogh was born in 1853 in a clergyman's family in Zindert, northern Netherlands.
My father was an honest pastor, but he also had modern notions, such as saying to his children, "You should consider me a friend." ”
The mother was a "conservative and traditional" woman, in her view, "dying in poverty, bringing shame to the family", she taught the children, do not associate with the children of the poor, to associate with the children of the upper class, she taught the children music and art, because she felt that elegant children should be able to decorate their lives with art.
His mother was prolific, Van Gogh had 5 younger siblings within a few years, the little priest's mansion was full of children's cries and noises all day, but Van Gogh was quiet, he never liked to play with his younger siblings, always sticking out his little head to look at the crowd outside the window, or staying quietly alone, or going for a walk in the field.
The strangeness of this child does not stop there, his oval face is covered with dense freckles, the lower lip is always plucked outward, and whenever there is a stranger, he always hunches his head, and is nervous to shake it twice from time to time.
He was lonely like an island, no one knew what he was thinking, his temper was extremely bad, his younger brothers and sisters were a little afraid of this strange big brother, he accidentally fell by himself, he didn't say a word all day, as if the earth had been crooked and caused him to fall.
Once, when Grandma came to his house, Van Gogh was throwing a tantrum, and there was no end, Grandma couldn't bear it, gave him a slap, and beat Van Gogh for three days without opening his mouth.
Of all the younger siblings, the only one who could get close to Van Gogh was his younger brother Theo.
He and Theo slept in the same bedroom and played together, Van Gogh taught Theo to play slingshots, taught him to build sand towers, in the winter, they skied, played sledding, played chess by the fire, in the summer, they played "jumping trenches", in order to make Theo happy, Van Gogh himself created a lot of small games.
In Theo's eyes, the brother was "simply not an ordinary person" and "my admiration for him is unimaginable." ”
Growing up, Theo also became Van Gogh's sole supporter and patron.
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When he was 8 years old, Van Gogh completed his first painting, he happily showed it to his mother, who looked at it, the painting was really good, praised Van Gogh, but hearing his mother's appreciation, Van Gogh silently tore the painting.
Another time, Van Gogh pinched a small figure out of clay, and the whole family clapped their hands and applauded, but Van Gogh turned around and threw it on the ground and broke it into a pair of dirt again.
Later he said: "As long as the artistic inspiration does not accumulate and flow, all works are ridiculous." ”
Van Gogh made it difficult for his family to understand, everyone only knew that he was a strange child, but there was one person who understood him, and that person was nature.
The grumpy Van Gogh, as soon as he entered nature, became docile.
He could observe for hours how a flower bloomed, how insects were produced for long periods of time, and he would quietly watch how birds nested.
He sat on the sand embankment and watched the water bugs crawl by for hours and hours, as if he were seeing not insects, but the magic of the universe.
He always had various ways to catch insects in the water, and then give the insects he caught names that only he could remember.
When the sparrow flew past the church, he followed the sparrow, through the cornfield, through the wheat field, and stared at the nest for half a day in the place where the birds roosted.
He knows the habits of birds very well, knows the names of various birds, and where and how they live.
Van Gogh went to the wilderness, no matter what the weather, even if it was sometimes stormy, he still stayed in the wilderness for a long time. On a rainy night, he disappeared alone in the woods, and his parents feared that he had fallen into the hunter's trap, but after some time he returned wet.
Such a strange child is destined to be different from ordinary people.
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Van Gogh reads, and does not play cards according to common sense, he often fights with his classmates, often disobeys the teacher's words, and often does not abide by the school rules, the teacher often complains to Van Gogh's parents, but the parents have no choice but to say sorry words over and over again.
Before he finished elementary school, Van Gogh dropped out because he was so strange.
The parents tried to keep Van Gogh by his side and correct his bad habits, and they specially invited tutors to educate Van Gogh, let Van Gogh learn poetry, learn to draw, and give him religious lessons.
Later, Van Gogh was sent to boarding school.
After this, Van Gogh was still a strange boy in school, growing strangely freely.
The teacher of painting encouraged him to "draw the impression of the object rather than the object itself".
"For example, if a painter paints every speck of lime on every stone, he deviates greatly from the spirit of art: he is at best a bricklayer." ”
In 1868, van Gogh graduated from school, he returned home, refused to plan for the future, in the fields of his hometown, in the bedroom to spend time, but, in the eyes of his family, Van Gogh's life, "is simply humiliating", they want Van Gogh to work, rather than waste time so idle.
A year later, Van Gogh, who really had no way, became a dealer. Van Gogh quickly adjusted to his work, he was able to remember all the paintings, reproductions, woodblock prints and copperplate engravings in the store, and the "performance" was also very good.
The manager of the store wrote to Van Gogh's father, saying that Van Gogh was full of energy in his work and would certainly be able to achieve high success in this regard in the future.
After work, Van Gogh went to the art museum to admire the works of famous artists of the past, or stayed at home to study, and he became more and more sensitive to the feeling of beauty.
When working, Van Gogh recommended works of real artistic value to customers, but those customers, disdainful of real beauty, were eager for those "decorative paintings".
For this reason, Van Gogh would quarrel with his clients, and he tried to make others see the real beauty, but apparently, in the face of reality, he failed.
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In 1973, Van Gogh was assigned to work in London, where he rented a house and grew his own flowers.
He wrote to his brother:
For painting, if you want to have a wealth of knowledge, you have to do a lot of hard work. You should visit the art museum as much as possible, you should walk often, you should love nature, which is a way to further understand art. People who truly love nature can find beauty everywhere.
At this time, Van Gogh was 20 years old, had been working in the painting industry for several years, could earn 5 pounds a month, he had seen the real beauty, he had seen the beauty of the indiscriminate number, and although he was surrounded by people, the inner loneliness was indestructible.
After arriving in London, Van Gogh fell in love with a girl who, because of this girl, looked at himself in the mirror and found that he was "a little ugly".
This was the first time he had fallen in love with a girl, and he took the painting given to the girl and confessed affectionately to the girl:
I love you with all my heart, and only if you are my wife can I be happy.
However, the girl's answer to him was that it was impossible.
Originally, he decided that for the sake of the girl, he should make good money, be a normal person, raise his salary twice a year, and he was willing to recommend those vulgar but popular paintings to others, whether they were really beautiful or not, whether he was really valuable or not.
Now, having lost love, Van Gogh was no longer interested in making money, and he found that those around him were just hurriedly doing boring work, those who did not know how to distinguish between good and bad in art, but had practiced the skill of selecting artificial, mediocre, cheap paintings alone.
Dealing with someone like this, doing something like this, makes him miserable.
He returned to the field again, walking aimlessly, painting as he pleased, and only nature could contain all the sorrow, loss and loneliness of man.
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One day, a rich, obese wife went to buy paintings, and Van Gogh spent most of the afternoon trying to sell him several copies of Rembrandt, Corot, and Mathis Maris, but the fat lady thought that the paintings that Van Gogh had introduced to her were not a little level, but were satisfied with the paintings that were actually very bad.
Van Gogh said: You can't take a picture with your eyes closed, and it won't be worse than that.
The fat lady jumped violently, and her body swelled in a circle.
The manager criticized Van Gogh, who said: How can we sell worthless things for high profit?
Van Gogh returned to his residence, opened Lernan's work, and read:
Only a person who can give up his desires can be honest and honest. People live, not only to be an honest and happy person, but also to do some noble things, not to be bound by vulgar life.
So he decided to leave.
Not selling paintings is not to blaspheme the real beauty, but people live, they always have to do something.
Van Gogh worked as a clerk in a bookstore, neither working hard nor dereliction of duty.
He also became a pastor and became a sincere preacher.
He went to the mines to preach, went with the miners to collect coal, came back to burn the coal, his hands and face were black, and then he began to preach.
But when he went deep into the mine 700 meters deep, it was suffocating, and there was a danger to his life at any time, the gas was getting thicker and thicker, and it could explode at any time, but the miners resolutely stopped working, because there was no pay for the shutdown, and letting the stones be smashed to death and the gas burned to death in the mine was no different from starvation.
They went deeper and deeper, van Gogh couldn't stand it anymore, he got on the ground and felt like he was having a nightmare.
Back at home, he took a bath, ate bread, drank milk, and in this instant he felt like a liar, preaching the benefits of poverty to others, but living a comfortable life himself.
He felt that he should live like these people, like them, so that he would be qualified to preach, so he changed to a broken house and lived like the most miserable people.
Hunger and cold kept invading him, and he realized that he couldn't help them, and God couldn't help them.
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When Van Gogh was always disappointed when he was running around for his life, a group of poor painters auctioned their works in Paris, these painters were Monet, there was Reano, but this auction was not greeted by cheers, but insults.
When each work was displayed, there was a booing in the audience, and they mocked it in every way.
Monet's landscape paintings sold for 50 francs, and they ridiculed that a picture frame was more than that price, and at auction there were constant people shouting "When we are fools?" "The scene was riotous, and finally the organizers could only call the police to prevent this crazy group of people from coming on stage and beating people."
In 1880, Van Gogh announced that he would make painting his life's work.
While learning from the paintings of famous artists, he learned from nature, and his understanding of painting became deeper and deeper, and he became more and more sensitive to the beauty of nature.
He said to his brother:
From now on, I no longer stand in front of nature as I used to, but just stare blankly.
Nature is elusive, but I have to catch it. Now, I've gradually entered this state.
Then he returned home elated and found that there was one more woman in the house, and that was kay Voss, who had lost her husband, and the cousin at this time was full of sorrow and pain.
Van Gogh went out every day to sketch, and he would take Kay Voss and her son, Kay Voss around, and he felt happy.
One day, Van Gogh showed his cousin a few new paintings and confessed to her. But my cousin was frightened by his words and shouted while running: "I will never love you, I will live alone." ”
When Kay Voss returned, Van Gogh wrote to her, but all the letters were returned, and Van Gogh rushed to Kay Voss's house, but what he got was ridicule.
Excited Van Gogh, placing his hand on a burning candle, his skin burned black, he pleaded bitterly, but no one paid any attention to his "madman".
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Later, he met a laundry woman who was a few years older than him, and lived with this woman for a while in the name of husband and wife.
When he left the woman, Van Gogh left all the paintings and drawings painted here to his brother, adding:
I expect that there will be six to ten years to paint in the future, and long life or early death will not be a great thing for me.
Later, he also met a girl, also older than him, this girl loves him, he also wants to marry this girl, but in the eyes of others, Van Gogh is a "madman" and a "prodigal son", and he will not be happy with him.
The girl's family did not allow them to see each other, the girl committed suicide because of love, although saved, but the people of the town, more disgusted with Van Gogh, he had to leave his hometown again.
Feelings are a mess, and life is a mess.
This was Van Gogh at that time.
However, in the paintings, he gradually entered a better state, and the inspiration of art finally erupted and flowed.
"Still Life Painting of Straw Hat and Pipe" and "Still Life Painting of Casserole and Clogs" are produced one after another.
In two years, he painted more than two hundred paintings, but none of them he was satisfied with.
At this time, the paintings were dark in color, and his younger brother Theo said that the colors of his paintings were too dull, and there was no popular bright Impressionist painting style.
After writing The Potato Eater, Van Gogh went to Paris.
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In 1886, Van Gogh entered a private school of fine arts in Paris.
Like when he was a child, he dressed strangely, his face was haggard for a long time, he looked poor, he was also stubborn, and even his teacher had a headache.
In the art capital of Paris, Van Gogh often visited galleries and exhibitions, and he saw the works of Gauguin, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, and then he looked at his paintings and felt useless.
The younger brother who understood Van Gogh's thoughts said:
Your work is very good, unique in the world, and your own.
You have a pair of sharp eyes and a hand that is good at depicting, and now all you need to do is light up your color palette.
To comfort Van Gogh, Theo took Van Gogh to a tavern where Theo introduced Gauguin to Van Gogh.
Van Gogh visited Gauguin's studio, where he saw a pile of works he had never dared to imagine before, and Gauguin proudly told Van Gogh that only Georg Seurat's paintings could be compared to his own, but none of George seurat's paintings were willing to exhibit.
After that, the colors on Van Gogh's paintings gradually became brighter.
Paris Scenery
The Brutphen Mill in Montmartre
Vases and Poppies, Oxales and Peonies
Vase and Tang Calamus and Cuiju
During his year in Paris, Van Gogh revolutionized his paintings.
His paintings, the colors are getting brighter and brighter.
However, he was also a little disappointed in Paris.
"Paris is such a quirky city. Here, people have to do their best to survive, and they can't do anything without being tired until they are half dead.
So, After less than two years in Paris, Van Gogh boarded a train bound south to Arles in the south on February 19, 1888.
"Snow Scene"
In Arles, Van Gogh's masterpieces were produced one after another.
The most famous "Sunflower" was painted here.
Almond branches and books in a glass
"The Blossoming Peach Tree"
In Arles, where the fields were full of flowers, the wilderness was so beautiful that Van Gogh wanted to paint them like crazy, "I would blame myself for not painting them", "Under the blue sky, the orange, yellow and red flowers of the sunflowers bloomed, dressed in stunning costumes, in the transparent air, they look happier and more lovely than they were in the north." ”
He said to his brother, "Everybody thinks I'm drawing too fast," "Don't believe them." If it's not emotion, if it's not the reverence people have for nature, what else can appeal to us? Sometimes emotions come so strongly that you can't help but work, with strokes as continuous and coherent as a sentence or a letter. ”
Pick up the paintbrush and he becomes a madman.
The "violence" of Van Gogh's paintings stunned the other companions, "A good painting depends on seduction, but Van Gogh rapes it." ”
He painted quickly, but the paintings still could not be sold, and those paintings, in the eyes of some people, were still the things of madmen.
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In Arles, Van Gogh also rented a house, and he painted all the outside walls bright yellow, and all the shutters were green.
Looks strange looking shape.
He proudly extended an invitation to Gauguin: "I am picking up a studio that I can use with my friends in the future, and it is okay for a painter friend to come and work or live here." ”
Gauguin once sent Van Gogh a self-portrait with a profile of Bernard.
("Self-portrait", 别别
Van Gogh was shocked when he saw it, and also painted a self-portrait entitled "Self-Portrait of "To My Friend Paul""
Self-Portrait of "To My Friend Paul"
The Yellow House
On October 23, 1888, Gauguin finally came to Arles to meet Van Gogh, and the two masters finally met in victory.
From then on, they could finally wander around together, visit brothels together, and paint together.
Scene of the Blue House
"Night Cafe"
Sunset near Montmartre
These two masters began their "Huashan On the Sword", you come and go, others may not understand Van Gogh's ideas and ideas, but Gauguin can.
But Van Gogh and Gauguin were both grumpy and savage, they lived together, and they didn't think the same thing about painting, so they often quarreled over it, and neither of them would budge a little.
Without talking about painting, they get along well, and when they talk about painting, both of them stick to their ideas to the end.
Van Gogh became agitated, as if a fire was burning, and his irritability made even Gauguin afraid.
The more irritable Van Gogh became, the more he could not restrain the urge to paint, and he sometimes painted three paintings a day.
In December, Van Gogh finally broke down and cut off his own ear with a razor.
Self-Portrait with Ears Bandaged
Self-Portrait with Ears Bandaged and Smoked with a Pipe
Since then, Van Gogh has continued to collapse and continue to paint, "Iris", "Starry Night", "The Reaper in the Yellow Wheat Field".
Iris
Starry Night
The Reaper in the Yellow Wheat Field
In May 1890, Van Gogh came to Auvers-sur-Oise to be treated by Dr. Paul Gachet.
Here, he created "The Staircase of Auvers-sur-Oise" and "Dr. Paul Gachet", which sold for more than $80 million 100 years later.
The Staircase of Auvers-sur-Oise
Dr. Paul Gachet
On July 27, 1990, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver in a field behind a castle, but did not die immediately, and on July 28, Van Gogh died of an infection in his wounds.
He created with his life, but until he died, the world did not recognize him.
This is also the fate of many artists.
Van Gogh's death may be summed up in his favorite eulogy about Delacroix:
"He died like this—almost on a smile, a noble painter with a stormy heart and a sunny mind."
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At the age of nearly 27, he decided to make painting his life's work, how many paintings did Van Gogh paint?
864 oil paintings, 1,037 drawings, 150 watercolors, in less than 10 years, these works are like The works are like The God has been wielded through van Gogh's body.
He is creating with a pious fanaticism,
He paints the sun, which is warm and scalding; he paints the wheat field, which is striving towards its final ripening and blooming; he paints the vineyards of Provence, which are joyful, romantic and amorous; the starry sky he paints, richer in color than during the day.
However, van Gogh sold only one of his life's works, which is said to have been bought by his brother Theo in order to encourage him.
Writer Feng Jicai said: "Van Gogh's life was full of failures in the secular sense. He has no fame and fortune, no love, poverty, and cold treatment and destruction. ”
Van Gogh also said in his letter to his brother:
"The more normal my mind is, the more I feel stupid, and the desperate painting makes us pay too much and get nothing."
But did he really get nothing?
But what did the world get out of his fanaticism?
We may not understand Van Gogh's fanaticism as an artist, but we need to understand that in his lifetime, Van Gogh lived fiercely, loved hard, and painted feverishly.
Wen | not interesting soul