梵高—生不逢時的天才畫家

文森特·梵高（1853—1890）以大膽的用色和粗獷而富于激情的筆觸給后人留下了深刻印象，這位后印象主義的先驅(qū)深深地影響了二十世紀藝術(shù)。然而，在其短暫的一生中，梵高一直飽受精神疾病和抑郁癥的折磨；盡管作品上千，在世時卻只售出過一幅作品……

今年是梵高逝世125周年，歐美多家美術(shù)館均會設(shè)展紀念這位藝術(shù)家，一部記錄其悲劇人生的音樂劇也將于今年年底在阿姆斯特丹上演。現(xiàn)在，就讓我們來緬懷這位天才的短暫一生。

Vincent van Gogh was born in the Netherlands on March 30th， 1853. His father and grandfather were 1）ministers， but others in his family worked in the art world. Vincent had two brothers and three sisters. He was closest to his younger brother Theo.

Although he enjoyed drawing from the time he was a young boy， Vincent had a number of other jobs before he decided to work as an artist full time. He worked as a teacher in London and then as a minister. He also worked in a book store， an 2）art gallery， and as a 3）missionary. At around the age of 27， van Gogh decided to devote himself completely to art.

When Vincent first started drawing， he 4）sketched pictures using pencils or 5）charcoal sticks. He used some watercolors as well. He liked to draw pictures of poor hardworking people. 6）Eventually he began to paint using oil paints.

In this early part of his 7）career， van Gogh used a lot of dark colors such as browns and dark greens. His pictures were often 8）somber or sad. His most famous early painting was called The Potato Eaters. It was a dark picture of a peasant family eating potatoes for dinner.

Much of what we know about van Gogh comes from letters he wrote to his brother Theo. Theo worked in an art gallery in Paris and supported Vincent’s art career. He sent Vincent money and encouraged him. Theo tried to sell Vincent’s paintings， but no one wanted to buy them.

Theo wrote to Vincent to tell him about a new style of painting in Paris called Impressionism注. In 1886， Vincent moved to Paris to learn from these new painters. His art became 9）influenced by painters such as Claude Monet， Edgar Degas， and Camille Pissarro. He also became good friends with artist Paul Gauguin.

During this time van Gogh began to use brighter colors. His brushwork also became more broken. He painted subjects from the streets and cafes of Paris as well as the countryside. Van Gogh also became interested in painting portraits of people. When he couldn’t find models， he would paint himself for practice. He painted over 20 10）self portraits during this time.

In 1888， van Gogh moved south to Arles， France， to start up an artist’s 11）commune. He rented out a yellow house to live in and invited artist Paul Gauguin to join him. He loved the 12）vibrant colors and the bright sun of Arles.

Van Gogh began painting with 13）intensity and 14）emotion. The colors in his paintings became more vibrant and bright. He would sometimes 15）apply the paint directly onto the 16）canvas from the tubes， leaving the paint thick with rough 17）brush strokes. Sometimes it would take weeks for his paintings to dry because the paint was so thick.

Van Gogh painted hundreds of pictures during this time， sometimes painting masterpieces in a single day. He became fully 18）obsessed with art. Paul Gauguin came to visit for a time， but the two artists had an argument and Gauguin soon left.

In 1889， van Gogh 19）committed himself to a 20）mental hospital. He could barely take care of himself. He still continued to paint and painted one of his most famous paintings Starry Night. Many of his paintings during this time featured 21）cypress trees and lots of 22）swirling colors.

Van Gogh’s mental state continued to 23）deteriorate. On July 29th， 1890， he died from a 24）self-inflicted bullet wound to the chest.

Although he wasn’t famous during his lifetime， today he is considered one of the greatest and most 25）influential artists of his time. Many of his paintings sell for millions of dollars today. There are over 800 surviving oil paintings as well as over a thousand water colors and sketches of his work.

1853年3月30日，文森特·梵高生于荷蘭。他的父親和祖父都是牧師，而家族中的其他人則從事藝術(shù)工作。文森特有兩個弟弟和三個妹妹，其中與他最親的是弟弟提奧。

雖然文森特從小就喜歡畫畫，但在決定以全職藝術(shù)家為業(yè)之前，他還干過其他工作。他曾在倫敦當過老師，后又當過牧師。他也曾在書店和藝術(shù)畫廊工作，還當過傳教士。大概在27歲的時候，梵高決定徹底投身藝術(shù)事業(yè)。

梵高最開始以鉛筆和炭棒作畫，也畫過一些水彩。他喜歡描繪辛勤勞動的窮苦人民。最后，他開始畫起了油畫。

在其職業(yè)生涯初期，梵高大量運用棕色和深綠色這類較深的色彩，他的畫常常透出一股憂郁和悲傷。他早期最著名的一幅畫題為《吃馬鈴薯的人》，昏暗的畫面描繪的是一個農(nóng)民家庭以馬鈴薯為晚餐的場景。

我們對梵高的了解很多都來自他寫給弟弟提奧的信。提奧在巴黎的一間畫廊工作，是梵高藝術(shù)生涯的支持者。他給梵高寄錢，并鼓勵他畫畫。