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  3. The story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life is more heartbreaking, and heart-liftin

The story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life is more heartbreaking, and heart-liftin

游客2023-12-14  11
问题     The story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life is more heartbreaking, and heart-lifting, than the romantic myth that has enshrouded him for decades. It is told, in his own words and works, in the six-volume Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters, his 819 surviving letters (and the 83 addressed to him) form the core. The first letter was written when Vincent, aged 19, was a trainee at The Hague Branch of Gospel & CIA, a firm of international art dealers. Like most of the letters, it was sent to his brother, Theo, then 15. The two remained close. Theo became an art dealer and Vincent’s main source of financial and emotional support.
    Van Gogh is irascible,  engaging,  intelligent, touchy, high-minded, well read, rebellious and pigheaded. When he started dressing like a tramp he claimed it was, in part, to advertise his refusal to join polite, i. e. , hypocritical society. (Equally, it may have been because polite society was refusing to accept him. ) He was often miserable, occasionally love-struck, almost always fiercely committed to something or other and sometimes mad.
    Art and literature were his constant companions. He wrote often about what he was reading and seeing. His concern was never a book’s place in the canon or a painting’s in art history. He judged a work on what it communicated, and how. From Antwerp he wrote that the religious paintings of Rubens are "theatrical. . . But what he can do is paint a queen, a statesman, well analyzed, just as they are. " He wrote beautifully about landscapes and peasants. In time, he gave a vivid, perhaps unequalled, account of an artist making art.
    He set off at 16, a seemingly conventional young man, to make his way as a dealer first in The Hague and then, via Paris, in London. There, a prickly instability, characteristic of his childhood, re-emerged, perhaps brought on by a rebuff from his landlady’s daughter. He lost the job he had had for seven years. Other failures followed, as a preacher and a teacher.
    His religious fanaticism grew. Indeed, the letters offer a rare look at obsession from the inside. His pursuit of a young widow was so unrelenting he would be called a stalker today. But to him, her repetition of "No, nay, never!" was "a piece of ice that I press to my heart to thaw. "
    When he was 26 his fixation became art. By then he was a penniless, eccentric loner. This coincides with a year-long break in the correspondence. He had fallen out with Theo following a "discussion" about his future. When the letters resume, Vincent refers to himself as a prisoner, a caged bird. "I know I could be quite a different man!" he writes. "There’s something within me, so what is it?" Two months later he bent himself to the study of drawing and painting as others would bend to the plough. It was as if he had to labor, and metaphorically sweat, before his genius could, or was allowed to, emerge. Five years later, in the spring of 1885, came The Potato Eaters. Movingly, triumphantly, Van Gogh had broken through.
    After two years in Paris, living with Theo (only nine letters~ no images), Vincent moved to Arles in 1888. Color now floods the pages. This was the beginning of the legendary period of prodigious, radiant creativity. Yes, he cut off his ear. He also painted nearly 200 pictures, among them The Night Care and The Yellow House.
    In 1889, after a series of crack-ups (in reaction to Theo’s marriage or perhaps just too much absinthe), he spent a year in the asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Province. The work continued to pour out (about 150 paintings). Sunflowers and Irises but also Starry Night, in which viewer and artist are pulled up over the rooftops, and tumble round and round across the dark sky.
    The very last letter reproduced, addressed to Theo but unfinished, was written on July 23rd, 1890. He was staying in Auvers-sur-Oise, not far from Paris where Theo lived with his wife and child. The note was found in Vincent’s pocket after he shot himself. He died, aged 37,on July 27th.
    Fifteen years were devoted to this publication. The Dutch, English and French editions are the joint project of the Huygens Institute and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. Letters and illustrations fill five books; the sixth has commentaries, maps and indexes.
    This is not the first attempt to publish the complete letters but it is the best. There were editions in 1914; an expanded version appeared in English in 1958; 20 newly discovered letters were added for the 1990 Dutch centenary edition. Now the letters have been retranslated, comprehensively annotated and there are 20 new items.
    But what really sets this edition apart from, and above, all others are the illustrations. Sketches are embedded in many of Van Gogh’s letters; the drawings and "scratches" he sometimes tucked into envelopes before posting are reproduced. So are thumbnail illustrations of every work the artist mentions (whether by himself or by others) plus larger reproductions of paintings based on these letter sketches. [br] Which of the following is INCORRECT about Van Gogh?
选项 A、Both the pursuit of his landlady’s daughter and a young widow ended in vain.
B、He made painstaking efforts before finally making the breakthrough.
C、His paintings were abundant in color.
D、He painted The Night Care and Starry Night shortly after cutting off his ear.
答案 D
解析 推断题。选项[D]“割掉自己的耳朵后，他画了The Nighl Cafe和starry：Night”，而原文第七段说的是“从此开始了一段才华横溢、光芒四射的创作传奇时代……他割掉了自己的耳朵……还画了近200幅画，其中就有《咖啡馆之夜》和《黄房子》。”由此可见，选项中提到The Night Cafe的创作时间是正确的；第八段提到Starry Night是1889年之后即梵高的下一个创作阶段中的作品，这与选项中的“shortly after”不符，故此项为本题答案。选项[A]“他对房东女儿和一个年轻寡妇的追求都以失败告终”，回文定位到第四段、第五段，分别提到了他对his landlady’s daughter和a young widow的追求，而原文的“a prickly instability…reemerged，perhaps brought on by a rebuff(断然回绝)from his larldlady’s daughter”和“His pursuit of a young widow…But to him，her repetition of‘No，nay，never!’(不，绝不)was‘a piece-of ice that I press to my heart to thaw”’可知这两次都是失败的，故排除；选项[B]“在取得突破前，他做出了艰苦的努力”，原文第六段“It was as if he had to labour…before his genius could…emerge．Five years later…．Movingly，triumphantly，Van  Gogh had broken through．”由此可见，在取得突破前，梵高的确付出了多年艰苦的努力，故排除[B]；选项[C]“他的画作色彩丰富”，原文中第七段提到色彩“colour now floods the pages”(画面上色彩喷涌而出)，可见abundant in color是对原句的正确改写，故排除。
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