新视野大学英语综合教程3 课文及课文翻译Unit3

Vincent van Gogh

1 Between November of 1881 and July of 1890, Vincent van Gogh painted almost 900 paintings, but never achieved fame. Yet since his death, he has become one of the most celebrated painters in the world.

2 The two most important but apparently independent features about van Gogh which most people know about are his spectacular, almost explosive, use of colour and the poor state of his mental health, which brought his life to a sad end.

3 Yet, according to medical research since van Gogh's death, it now seems that these two features may be linked, and that his mental health may have contributed to his artistic style, not just at the end of his life, but at earlier times as well. 4 Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853, and his early career working for an international art dealer took him to London, Paris and Belgium. When he decided to become a painter in 1880 with the support of his brother Theo, his early work was, not surprisingly, filled with the gloomy light of Northern Europe.

5 In Paris van Gogh met many of the artists later known as Impressionists, such as Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pissarro and Gauguin. His style changed under their influence, and became lighter and brighter. He used small strokes of primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and complementary colours (purple, orange and green). He was also sensitive to the more abstract style of Gauguin's paintings, where shapes of objects are represented by distinct zones of colour.

6 Yet despite working in such an encouraging atmosphere, van Gogh could not equal his friends' growing success. He was unable to pay for models, and so he painted a large number of self-portraits, which may indicate his potential for soul searching. 7 Van Gogh soon grew discouraged with his life in Paris, and moved to Arles in the south of France, where, drawn by the sunshine, he hoped to establish an artists' community. He felt liberated by the people, the buildings and the scenery there, and painted them with vivid, passionate colours and a cheerfulness which was new to him and his career. He was keen for Gauguin to visit him, and finally persuaded him to make the journey. The paintings of Sunflowers and his home were partly intended as a welcome to Gauguin, partly a reflection of his happiness. But because of the intensity of van Gogh's friendship for him and hostile disagreements about their working methods, Gauguin left Arles. At this event, van Gogh cut off part of his own right ear. 8 Van Gogh spent several desperate periods in a mental hospital over the next two years because of his depression and his concern that he had heard voices. His style became more experimental, with stronger lines and sharper colours, always

dominated by the green of the olive trees, the blue of the sky and the spectacular yellow of the sun. This was the period of his greatest output and some success, with the famous The Starry Night and other paintings being well-received by critics at the annual exhibition in Paris.

9 But these very productive periods were matched by moments when despair prevailed, during which he doubted his ability to create a work of value. In a delicate state of mind, van Gogh returned to a friend near Paris and continued his work. In 1890 he shot himself, taking two days to die.

10 So what is the link between his love of intense colour and his destructive mental state?

11 We now know more about mental and physical illness, and their effects. Van Gogh suffered from epilepsy, an illness which leads to fits, and which may have been caused by a defect in the brain at birth. This was made worse by drinking absinthe, a popular but dangerous alcohol often drunk by artists at the time. His doctor prescribed a drug which can cause the patient to see everything in yellow or to see yellow spots. This may have been why van Gogh loved the colour.

12 Van Gogh experienced a surge of activity, after which he became tired and depressed. We now recognize these to be symptoms of bipolar disorder. He also used lead-based paints, exposure to which can lead to lead poisoning. One of the symptoms of lead poisoning is a swelling of the retinas in the eyes, which can cause one to see light in circles around objects. We can see this effect in paintings such as The Starry Night.

13 Another condition linked to epilepsy and manic behaviour is the spontaneous need to write continuously. Van Gogh wrote over 800 letters to his brother, Theo, which might be the result of this condition.

14 Van Gogh wanted his paintings to be realistic, so he worked outdoors. Some of the episodes of aggressiveness and feeling sick may be the effects of sunstroke. 15 Finally, hearing voices is a well-established symptom of schizophrenia, a serious mental illness which changes the relationship between what you think and reality. 16 We talk about the genius necessary to produce great works of art. In van Gogh's case, his genius, especially in his use of colour, may be due to his mental health. As art lovers, we acknowledge that van Gogh produced some of the greatest paintings the world has ever known, and gave inspiration to so many later artists. But we should not overlook the mental torture he suffered for his art.

文森特 ? 凡 ? 高

在1881年11月至1890年7月之间，文森特 ? 凡 ? 高大约画了900幅画，却没有成名。但自从他死后，他成了世界上最负盛名的画家之一。

大部分人所知道的凡 ? 高的两个最重要但显然互不相关的特点是：他对色彩神奇、几乎具有爆发力的运用以及他糟糕的精神状态，后者最终导致他生命悲剧性的结束。

但是，根据凡 ? 高死后的医学调查，现在看来这两个特点可能是彼此相关的，无论是在他生命的最后还是更早的时期，他的精神状况都可能影响了他的艺术风格。

凡 ? 高于1853年出生于荷兰，早年替一位国际艺术商工作，因此他去过伦敦、巴黎及比利时。1880年在他弟弟西奥的支持下，他决定成为一个画家，因此，他早期的作品充满了北欧昏暗的光线。

在巴黎，凡 ? 高遇到了许多后来被称为印象主义派的艺术家，如德加、土鲁斯-劳特累克、毕沙罗、高庚。他的风格受到他们的影响而发生了改变，变得轻快而明亮。他使用细微线条的原色（红、蓝、黄）和补色（紫、橙、绿）。他还对高庚画作的相对抽象风格很敏感，在高庚的画作中，物体的形状都通过不同的颜色区域表现出来。

但是，尽管在这样激励人心的气氛下工作，凡 ? 高还是没法与他那些越来越成功的朋友们相比。他付不起钱请模特，所以他画了很多自画像，那些自画像可能展现了他探索内心的天赋。 凡 ? 高很快就对他在巴黎的生活感到气馁，所以他搬到了法国南部的亚尔，那儿的阳光吸引了他，他希望在那儿成立一个画家之家。他感觉自己从那儿的人、建筑物及景色中得到释放，所以他用生动而充满激情的色彩，用他自己和他的事业中从未有过的振奋来描绘他们。他热切地希望高庚来看他并且最终说服了高庚前往亚尔。《向日葵》及描绘他家的画作一方面是为了迎接高庚，另一方面也反映了他的喜悦之情。但因为凡 ? 高对高庚的强烈的友情及他们关于绘画方法的带敌意的争论，高庚离开了亚尔。因为这件事，凡 ? 高切掉了自己的一部分右耳。 因为抑郁和幻听，凡 ? 高在接下来的两年里进出了好几次精神病院。他的风格变得更具实验性，线条更粗犷有力，色彩更明艳，常以橄榄绿、天蓝及明黄色为主。这是他最多产的一段时期，他也开始有了一些成就，著名的《星夜》及其他一些画作在巴黎年度画展上受到了评论家的好评。

但他的创作高峰期也是他最绝望的时期，在这段时期他怀疑自己没有能力创作出有价值的作品。在脆弱的精神状态下，凡 ? 高回到了一个住在巴黎附近的朋友身边继续工作。1890年，他开枪自杀，两天后去世。

那么他对绚丽色彩的喜爱与他毁灭性的精神状态之间有什么联系呢？

我们现在了解更多关于凡 ? 高精神与身体的疾病及它们所造成的影响。凡 ? 高患有癫痫病，这种病会导致昏厥，可能是因为出生时脑部有缺陷。喝苦艾酒会加重病情，苦艾酒是种流行但危险的饮料，那时候的艺术家们经常喝。他的医生给他开了一种药，这种药能使病人把所