Attention, let poetry light up life
Painter Van Ha and Di Shu
Translated by Feng Zhi
*Originally published in the semi-monthly magazine "Shen Zhong", No. 31, 1934. "Van Ha" is now translated as "Van Gogh".
It's late now, but I still have to write you a few lines. I'm sorry that you're not here, but it doesn't seem like we're far apart from each other.
I have recently made concessions with myself: I have paid no more attention to my slightness, rather, to the emotions that remain from it. Time is too wasted, and work should not be left behind. Now I don't care if I'm healthy or not, I have to paint in an orderly manner from morning to night anyway. I don't want anyone to talk about me saying, "Ah, those are all old works." ”
...... My hands, to me, seem too tender, but what can I do? I'm going to start again, if it's going to come at a significant cost; and most importantly, I can't afford to ignore my work for a longer time. Art is jealous, and she does not want people to take the disease more seriously than she does. So I obeyed her.
...... People like me shouldn't have been sick in the first place. You have to understand how I am engaged in art. In order to achieve true art, I have to work a lot for a long time. What I desired was as difficult as my purpose, but I did not believe that my desire was too high. I'm going to paint a painting like this that will surprise some people.
To put it simply, I want to bring my work to such an extent that I will speak of him and say: This man feels very deep, this man feels very fine; even if my so-called grossness is what you understand, that is why it is because of this. Now I still ask for it without mercy, to say so; but this is the only reason why I want to use my vitality here.
What am I in the eyes of most people? A zero, a monster, an obnoxious person, a person like that, who has no place in society now or forever, is simply smaller than the smallest.
Well, even if everything is so, I'm going to show everyone in my work that there's something hidden in the heart of a zero like this, someone so unimportant.
This is my self-esteem, and though all these things have been the case, he would rather entrust love than hatred, would rather entrust open feelings of happiness than lust. Whenever I have had enough of struggling with many adversities, there is a calm and pure harmony and music in my heart.
Art requires a stubborn work, non-stop work and constant observation. At the first level of stubborn work, I learned a kind of continuous work, and the maintenance of my own opinions in the face of many divergent opinions.
I have rarely talked to painters lately, and at the same time I don't feel bad. One should not listen to the painter as much as he would naturally speak. I now know a lot more about what Moff (1) said than I did half a year ago: "Don't talk to me about Dippré (2), not as much as I talk about your Goya (3), or the same thing." "It sounds strange, but it's completely true. The ontology of the sense object is more important than the feeling of painting; it is richer and more vivid.
(1) Anton Mauve (1838–1888), Dutch painter.
(2) Jules dupré (1811-1889), French landscape painter.
(3) Goya (1746-1828), Spanish painter.
What I would like to say about the difference between ancient and modern art is that new artists are mostly bigger thinkers.
Rembrandt (1) is as great and sublime as The Loisdai (2) has the same meaning for us as for their contemporaries; but there is something more personal, new and recent in the artists of modern times that speaks to us more.
(1) Rembrandt (1606-1669), Dutch painter.
(2) Ruisdael (1628–1682), Dutch painter.
Today I painted a small cradle study and painted a few colors. I hope to paint this little cradle a hundred times in the future—with my stubbornness.
Excerpted from Feng Zhi's Complete Translations and Foreign Translations, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2020
The little girl by the cradle in 1883
1889 Walking: Falling Leaves The Van Gogh Museum of Art, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1887 Spring fishing fishing, Art Institute of Chicago, USA
1888 Starry Night on the Rhône, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
1888 Sunset Willows Dutch National Museum of Art in Wotterrokule Müller
1888 Peach blossoms in full bloom The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Source: Huang Canran Small Station
What is good poetry? | Ye Jiaying
300 yuan remuneration for comments | The river of the ancient town
Editor: Wang Aofei, Second Instance: Man Man, Final Trial: Jin Shikai