Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is really worth a visit, and it's a place I've been to and I want to go again. There, China, Japan and Egypt and other countries of bronze, ceramics, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, gold and silver crafts, textiles and so on, countless, Tang Dynasty Yan Liben's "Emperor Map of The Past Dynasties" and other unique products in the sea are a feast for the eyes, and the various cultural relics of ancient and modern Europe are also very rich. So, on the afternoon of September 4, Mr. Cai Ruyi and I came here again.
European painting art, on the second floor of this museum, there are many exhibition halls, and those paintings that people can only see in books or on the Internet are must-see for visitors. On the wall, titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso and a large number of other great masters are dazzling.
There are several works by Gauguin at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and somehow I don't seem to like his stuff, thinking that the paintings are not beautiful and very earthy. As he walked, he stopped in front of one of his paintings, and the reason why he stopped at that time was probably because the painting was very large. Looking at the text description next to it, the long English name of the work suddenly caught my strong attention: where do we come from? what are we？ where are we going？ Although my English is too poor to speak, I still translate these sentences: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
wow! Isn't that the classic sentence I often see in newspapers, the Internet and WeChat? Isn't that the famous quote that people often quote? Isn't this the "ultimate question" about humanity? It turns out that Gauguin said this! It turns out that it is the name of a giant painting by Gauguin! It turned out that this was Gauguin's question in Tahiti!
My heart skipped a beat and my eyes immediately set on Where Did We Come From? What are we? Where are we going? 》。
This large-scale, philosophical painting of 139 cm in length and 375 cm in width was completed by Paul Gauguin in December 1897. Mr. Cai Ruyi reminded me that the painting should be viewed from the right to the left. The background of the tropical jungle of Tahiti is covered with a strange atmosphere created by turquoise, orange-red and yellow, and nude figures of different genders and ages appear one after another, and the process from birth to death unfolds step by step. On the far right is a baby, symbolizing the beginning of life and human childhood, next to the baby are three women talking, perhaps they are talking about the joy of life. Above them, a man with his right hand on top of his head, wondering if he was listening to two men in long robes discussing a confused conversation about their fate. In the middle of the picture, there is a person who is picking fruit, representing the maturity, survival and reproduction of people, expressing the joy of the world. On the far left, an old woman is depicted dying, heralding the coming of death and the end of human life, while a young woman next to the old woman is witnessing the old woman's demise. In the upper left of the painting, the pale blue deity with slightly raised hands may indicate the path of life and death? And the person standing on the left side of the statue should be thinking about where to go according to God's prompts.
Allegedly, Where Did We Come From? What are we? Where are we going? It is a summative work in Gauguin's life. In March 1897, Gauguin's daughter died, and he himself was tormented by syphilis and eye diseases, poverty and disease, so this work concentrates his views on life and art. The eccentric atmosphere, the dark landscape, and the original human figures make the work full of unknowns, and the philosophical questions of where we come from, what we are, and where we are going, provoke people to think deeply about this magical painting and their own lives.
According to records, at the time of the creation of this painting, Gauguin was on the verge of a mental breakdown, swallowed poison, and then ran to the mountains, hoping to die that his body would be eaten by wild beasts in order to achieve complete liberation. After being found and rescued, he had a strong desire to create.
The Yellow Christ
Gauguin said: "I was going to paint a magnificent work before I died, and I was unprecedentedly fanatical, working day and night for a month. He believed that the painting was a desperate, exhausted man who had painted it as a will on sack cloth. So he wanted to express everything in his dreams in this painting, including the ancient forms of all the art that he could recall, the usual bright colors, and the naked male and female human bodies. When he woke up, he felt that he had seen the whole idea he wanted in front of the frame: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? So this sentence became the title of the painting.
As long as you look at it more, you will find that Gauguin's paintings, original and mysterious, have decorative and romantic colors, and this painting is like this. In the dappled and dreamlike picture, the painter's inquiry into the meaning of life is implied.
Paul Gauguin, a French painter and sculptor, together with Van Gogh and Cézanne, is known as the three giants of Post-Impressionism, and has participated in the exhibition of the Impressionist School for 4 consecutive times. In addition to this painting", "Where Do We Come From?" What are we? Where are we going? His representative works include "Yellow Christ", "Wandering Soul", "Worship Day" and so on.
Gauguin's life was forever torn between escape and pursuit. I will not dwell on his life here. He was tired of the suffocation of man in the civilized world and dreamed of returning to the simple and natural infancy of mankind. In 1887, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Martini island in the West Indies. The island's rich and authentic tropical scenery inspired his art. His works, thus further simplified in form and color, better express the content of his pure feelings and hearts. After 1890, Tahiti in the South Pacific became his home. Perhaps it was out of confusion about life, combining the fantasies in dreams with the feelings of living on Tahiti, that he finally painted "Where Do We Come From?" What are we? Where are we going? 》。
After the painting was completed, it was given to a friend named Georges Daniel de Monfred in 1898, and after several transfers, it was finally acquired in 1936 for the Harriman Gallery in New York, where it was transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for $80,000 that year, becoming one of the museum's treasures.
Let's go back to Gauguin's question. "Where are we from? What are we? Where are we going? "This question is also too big, both profound and mysterious, and it is confusing and poignant to ask, it is restless to ask, and it is frightening to ask. As if God were standing at the end of the world and asking humanity a question, who could answer? Who can figure it out?
When I left the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I excitedly said to Mr. Cai Ruyi: Today is so rewarding, inadvertently, knowing where we come from, what we are, where we are, is what Gauguin said. Almost so, it is a world-class famous painting, if so, how regrettable!
(Written on September 7, 2019 in Roslindale, Boston)