From the age of 20 to 37, Van Gogh wrote hundreds of letters to his younger brother Theo in 17 years. After Van Gogh's death, his reputation grew, and every painting and every sentence he left behind became precious. The editors used time as a clue, selected a part of these letters, and published them in a collection. Since letters always begin with "Dear Theo", the book is named "Dear Theo".
"He's been dead for a hundred years, but his writing is still alive. The so-called accident is the heterogeneous mixed flesh and blood body in The Letter. There is always a real genius stationed between the lines, a hundred times more real and wonderful than people think. This is the New York Times' assessment of the contents of these letters. So, let's open the book and see what Van Gogh wrote.
The Chinese edition is more than 480 pages long and contains Van Gogh's first letter to Theo and to his last letter to Theo before he committed suicide. The letters record his mental journey through each of his most important works, and also restore the struggles behind seemingly absurd acts. He talks about the troubles of life, the views of art, the views of other artists, the confrontation with prostitutes, or the white eyes of the lady of the café next door...
What we care about at this time is not how he writes, but whether he can express his thoughts truthfully, fluently, and clearly, and yes, he did. Faith is his means of communication and a channel for spiritual confession.
He had an objective understanding of his situation, writing in the letter: "What kind of person I am in the eyes of others. I am a person without status, a strange being, a person who does not fit in—a being who has no place in society, who is more humble than the most humble. However, he did not give up on himself because of this, but pinned his hopes on creation: "Okay. Let's just assume that's all there is to it. But through my paintings, I want people to see that there is still a soul in my humble body. "
We cannot demand a painter at the level of a writer, nor can we demand that every letter of daily communication be a splendid prose or a beautiful long poem. "Maybe I'm always a mess, but there's still peace in my heart... In the most dilapidated interiors, in the most filthy corners, I still see art and painting. And my mind went in that direction, like an irrepressible impulse. As time passed, more things were overlooked, and I saw the painting more clearly. Art calls for inexhaustible motivation, continuous work, and never-ending insight. When reading such words, I think that Van Gogh is not a writer, not a poet, and he is like them.
You can read the book as a collection of letters, and of course, it's more like Van Gogh's autobiography of the mind. From 1873, when Van Gogh was 20 years old, until he ended his life in 1890, his entire middle-aged and young stage, the beauty or hardship he encountered, every turn of fate, his trajectory of action in each period, the source of inspiration, and his creative experience, were basically presented in the letter. It can be seen how much he trusts and how close he is to his brother, and he simply regards Theo as another self, at least, as a confidant without saying a word.
From the age of 27, Van Gogh decided to devote himself to painting. In 1886, at the age of 33, he was a little confused and disappointed, and came to Paris to join his brother Theo, who worked in the gallery. In Paris, he became acquainted with Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painters, as well as japanese ukiyo-e works, which was tantamount to pushing open a window and seeing a new world, and the expansion of his horizons transformed his painting style. The colors are getting bolder and more intense, and the tones are getting brighter and brighter.
Ever since Van Gogh became obsessed with painting, he hasn't worked to make money. In the last few years of his life, he was provided with food, clothing, shelter, and money to buy painting materials. After Van Gogh went to the countryside in the south of France, the brothers would write letters every week, sometimes writing multiple letters a week, often mentioning money, Andio funded him with one small sum after another, and Van Gogh mentioned again and again that the money was running out. Van Gogh would mail almost every painting to his brother for safekeeping, hoping to sell it for a good price in his gallery. At that time, the rich people in Europe were not very interested in Van Gogh's extensive painting style and rural and peasant themes. He continued to work with great enthusiasm.
Over a decade, he painted 864 paintings, 1,037 drawings and 150 watercolors, and sold only one painting in his lifetime, called The Red Vineyard, which an acquaintance's sister probably bought out of sympathy and gave him 400 francs. The painting was created a year before his suicide, a year of his prolific life and a year when his spirit began to develop abnormalities.
Van Gogh, referring to the painting in his letter to Theo, said: "Whenever possible, I would rather keep the present paintings to myself, even if it is only for a year, and I am sure that they will be more valuable than they are now." "Van Gogh needed money too much in the last years of his life. His desire to create was strong, which meant that more money was needed to buy painting materials, and Theo also encountered financial difficulties at that time.
The strange fate is that after Van Gogh's death, each of his works sold for sky-high prices. The painting "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was auctioned for $82.5 million. He didn't get a chance to see it, nor did his brother Theo, who died six months after Van Gogh's death.
Undoubtedly, Van Gogh is unique, and the Theo who supports him, provides for him, and never gives up on him, is also unique. Without Theo and his wife, there would be no Van Gogh as we know it today. The letters in the book were originally collated and delivered to the publisher by Theo's wife, Johanna. Van Gogh's paintings became more and more famous, and they were also related to the vigorous operation of Johanna and Van Gogh's family.
If Gauguin was a friend, he and his only friend had spent some time together, painting outdoors together during the day and drinking together at night, and the two had exchanged self-portraits. Everything looks wonderful. Appreciating the work of genius is a pleasure, while living with genius is a disaster. Two talented artists, their personalities so prominent, each other can not restrain each other, soon to the point of intolerable fire, after several big quarrels and a big fight, Gauguin became the last straw that overwhelmed the camel, Van Gogh collapsed, cut off his ears.
Nevertheless, he maintained a friendship with Gauguin, and judging from his letter to Theo, Van Gogh did not say anything to Gauguin, and he had planned to visit Gauguin, and they also maintained correspondence with each other. Gauguin's letter is rather pessimistic. In his letter to Theo, Van Gogh empathized with Gauguin's situation, writing: "It is not a trivial matter that we all feel that every day there is a possibility of cooking. We feel that our lives are fragile, and this is no small thing compared to other things. ”
After Gauguin left, his mood grew deeper and deeper, and he said in a letter to Theo: "I haven't spoken to anyone for many days, except to order food and ask for coffee, although I have been like this from the beginning, and what disturbs me is that I have been alone for such a long time." In the eyes of the villagers, this strange man has become a frightening madman, and eventually he was sent to a mental hospital. When you read the letters of that period, you don't think he has a mental problem, on the contrary, you think he is incredibly sober.
To add, gachet in "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" is a doctor who treated mental illness for Van Gogh, and he also liked to paint, and in the last year of Van Gogh's life, the two were more frequent. In Van Gogh's view, he was also not very healthy. In his letter to Theo, he said: "I don't think we should rely on Dr. Gachet in the slightest. The first is because his illness is heavier than mine, or the same. Let one blind man lead the other, and will the two of them fall into the ditch together? ”
Van Gogh mentioned his mental troubles many times in his later letters, and if a person is really crazy, he will not realize this problem. In his letter, he was not satisfied with his temporary forced detention, saying: "My most recent illness (which was terrible at the time) was largely affected by other patients. The prison had taken me to a standstill, but the elder Veron paid no attention to it, allowing me to live a monotonous life with all the incorrigible. "There is only a line between genius and madness. Van Gogh's mind was not deranged, perhaps, but he had psychological problems. It can be corrected if handled properly.
The most painful thing in the world is that you see yourself falling soberly. Of course, Van Gogh was not depraved, he was masochistic, and in the last year of his life, his mental state was up and down, he was silent all day, he was painting all day, and suddenly one day he decided to end it all.
On July 27, 1890, Van Gogh aimed a revolver at his chest in a wheat field, which did not immediately kill him, and he staggered back to his residence, waiting for death to come. It wasn't easy to live, and even death was so hard that he stayed up until the next day and saw his brother Theo, who had come to visit him. At midnight on July 29, his last words to his brother were: "I want to die like this."
"Everyone has a fire in their heart, and people who pass by see only smoke." This refined quote, from a letter written by Van Gogh to Theo, ends with this passage in the letter: "There may be a fire in our hearts, but no one has taken it to warm themselves up: Those who pass by see only a wisp of green smoke coming out of the pipe, ignore it, let me see you now, what should I do?" People have to guard the fire in their hearts, to hold steady, to wait patiently, and whoever comes up to it and sits down next to it — probably stops, right? ”