Chapter 30 talk about painting

In my former school classroom hung a "Mona Lisa", a famous painting of the Italian Renaissance.Mr. said: "Pay attention to the strange smile on that woman's face." It was indeed a beautiful and trance smile that made people feel a little uneasy, and it seemed that it couldn't be kept for a moment, even when I tried to pay attention, it slipped away. , making people feel disappointed for no reason.The husband told us that when the artist drew this picture, he tried his best to collect all kinds of rare and lovely things from all over the world and put them in front of this woman to make her smile like this.I don't like this explanation.Green fur turtles, mummy's feet, and mechanical toys don't necessarily make people laugh like this.Isn't it hard to make people laugh like this?But it might not be easy.A woman suddenly thinks of any small action of her lover, making him look very childish, cute and pitiful, she is suddenly full of tolerance, grows outside of herself without limit, and shades his past and future, there may be something like this in her eyes the bewildered smile.

The model of "Mona Lisa" was verified to be a young lady.Perhaps she thought of the clever remark her child said this morning--knows everything--it won't be four in August--and laughed like that, but reserved, because the painter was doing it for her. In the portrait, the lady's smile is not to show her teeth. However, an English literati in the nineteenth century—whether it was Walter de la Mare, I can’t remember— wrote an article about the Mona Lisa, but he talked about the wisdom of ghosts and the mysterious fish and algae in the deep sea.I have no objection to seeing paintings and wanting to make poems—good art should arouse the creativity of the audience, and should not be purely passive appreciation—but I hate that "Mona Lisa" Because it is a limited explanation, after reading the explanation first and then looking at the picture, I can't help but look for the shadow of the fish in the deep sea in the eyes of the woman.Such gorgeous attachments seem to increase, but actually reduce the meaning of the picture.I also read "Painting Notes" in my Chinese textbook, but it was very succinct. I only counted the horses, how many were standing, how many were lying down, and the poems on Chinese paintings can only be read as words. Sometimes it is true that the characters are written well, and it gives the structure of the drawing a kind of detached, intentional or unintentional balance, which has become a characteristic of Chinese painting.However, the words themselves have no good influence on the painting. Even if the extremely beautiful sentences are used, once they are transplanted on the painting, they feel inappropriate.

So when I write this article about the pictures I saw, I feel a little guilty of knowing the law, because it is difficult to avoid that attitude of explanation-and there are always limited explanations for all good pictures, but when I write I also feel that there is no need to have those scruples.For example, when a friend meets and asks: "The moon is so beautiful these two nights, have you seen it?" Isn't that natural? I recently got a copy of Sai Zan's paintings, and I have the opportunity to take a closer look at Sai Zan's paintings.Although I knew that Cézanne was the first master of the modern painting school, I was more interested in his disciples, such as Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, and later Picasso, who all grasped a certain characteristic of him and developed it into Vertex, therefore, is more paranoid, stark, and engaging.As for Cézanne, which is full of many possibilities, vast and reserved, the only impression I had in the past was the poorly reproduced still life in magazines, a few gray apples, with a tablecloth under it, and a wine bottle standing behind it , from Apple's processing, it should be possible to see how he rediscovered the "block" in addition to the lines, but I still don't understand it.The book I have here is called "Sezanne and His Time" and it is in Japanese, so I don't even know the title of each painting.Two of the early portraits stand out as noteworthy contrasts.One from 1860 shows a poet-like man with broad brows and big eyes. The dark gold painting only reveals part of his face and white collar.I don't like the tradition of Romanticism, that kind of unexplainable mystery, just like turning a light switch, a kind of artificial moonlight shines on everything, so there is a vague blue beauty, there are dark shadows, Inside, there are insects and frogs chirping with excitement and terror.

Looking at a painting from 1863, there is also a strange feeling of restlessness in it, but it is not so cheap poetic.In this painting we see a small, big-headed man, past middle age, with wavy, light-colored hair parted long in the fashion of the day.He was sitting on a high-backed armchair, his big rolling eyes showed a sophisticated, contemptuous and frivolous kindness, and the tall Rendan beard complemented the smile.However, this painting is a bit disturbing. The proportions of the human body are completely wrong. The legs are too short, the arms are too short, and the two hands hanging down are very long. The set contrasts, producing a subtle, civilized horror.

The portrait of a monk painted in 1864 is a bearded man with a white robe and a white windbreaker, with a cross hanging from his chest, arms folded, and two big hands.The whole picture is pure gray and gray, but there is no misery in the severe cold, only the most basic, the bitter struggle between man and wind, hail, mountains and rivers. Many of the most obsolete themes of religious paintings since the European Renaissance are quite different in the hands of Cézanne. "The statue of the Virgin holding the dead body of Christ" is really surprising.The Virgin Mary is the most ordinary woman, poor, doing some sewing work on a piece-by-piece basis, with a disheartened heart and gray hair, with a white hooked nose and a closed mouth filled with narrow pain for forty or fifty years.She didn't hug Christ, she turned her back and was busy with something, and from the folds of her dark clothes, she could smell the smell of poverty.The one holding Christ is another big butcher-like man, with arms as thick as stone pillars, and a bald head with a white heart attached to a gloomy face. At first glance, it looks scary, but after watching it more, you realize that the cruelty has its own pain. Background, but also a sympathetic person.Especially strange is Christ himself, dark-skinned, muscular, peaceful-faced, with legs stretched across the picture, all he has is pictorial beauty and seems to mean nothing else.

In "Walking Man", one is taller and wears a gentlemanly tall hat, and the other is shorter, more like a warrior, wearing a large felt hat with rolled brims, long leather boots, and an armrest.On that hot afternoon, the grass, trees, and light-colored houses steamed into a cloud of bright smoke, and the shirts of the two strollers smelled of old sweat, but their bow ties were still neatly tied, and they were arm in arm, dazed. He walked towards us with a good temper, looking very cute and pitiful. The backs of the two fashionable men in "Scenery in the Wild" also give people the same small and sad feeling.The subject is two fashion women.This type of pattern is the cliché of general academic portraits—a noble lady with a head full of pearls and diamonds and strict makeup, standing proudly there like a small white mountain; the background is slightly dotted with trees and castles, perhaps her family’s hereditary style Yap.Yet the women here are absolutely realistic.A black-haired man with low forehead, strong and worldly, with a kind of worldly wisdom.A blond-haired man with a little more noble affectation, standing slanted, showing off the layered skirts like a bird with a long tail, leaning his cheek against the leather muff, with a vague poetic expression on his brow-diluted face.It is strange to put these two women in a deserted place, and the wind is blowing a big flag far away. It reminds people of the hyper-realism in recent times. Painting a tree with a sofa chair embedded in the top of the tree , the sunlight in the field shines on the floral chair cover, desolate like a dream.Saizan did not develop this artistic conception to its end, so it is more mellow and lovely. "Pastoral" is a group of men and women by the water, squatting, lying, and sitting, with white flesh and white clothes flowing past like music, lowering back into a U-shape.At the corner, a naked woman stretched out her arms to support her neck. The flesh around her body fluctuated, and the whole picture was rippling with strange light.

The one titled "Olympia" must have been based on Greek mythology.I don't quite understand it, but I only like the female portrait in the center, the woman curled up in a ball and sleeping, with such fat and bloated legs, but it can still be seen that she is young and solid.I don't like "The Temptation of St. Anthony", which seems to be his preferred theme. There are two paintings before and after. The first one is dark and messy. St. Anthony has a woman's breasts, but the woman in the dream is like a horse. The latter one is light and chaotic. A Day of Summer captures that permanent yet temporary feeling of the sun shining on you.The child by the water was standing with his arms outstretched, his legs spread apart, looking very happy, with his back like a toad.The woman holding a small umbrella under the big sun looks ridiculous.There are more tourists on the other side, the forest looks like green clouds, and the light blue sky is nestled with flounced clouds, but it is hot, extremely hot.The white sails of the boat glowed with molten iron, and the boatmen and workers were all charred black.

If the portraits of the two children are looked at together, the contrast in the human nature shown is astonishing.The child with his head in his hand, a large light shining on his protruding forehead, his face is intelligent, questioning, mischievous, naughty, it is the most powerful part of human beings moving forward there.However, a child is a child after all, and a white shirt is exposed from the broad coat. It is such a small white thing that is easily destroyed. There are also a lot of obedient ones, like another kid here, a bright and civilized person, as gentle as porridge, those big eyes staring at you, out of good intentions, there may be some small villains, although the small villains Bad can be completely ignored, because he is useless, unpromising, half-hearted, with a crooked face.

In terms of brushwork, the previous one seems to be extremely simple, but because it wants to express the child's mixed aura, there are still mixed brushstrokes in the large block of coloring. When it comes to the portrait of the child seven years later, that Almost all flat surfaces.But what a solid plane! There is a man named "Che Kai", (according to the Japanese translation, the pronunciation may not be accurate) who must be a friend of Cezanne, and there are two portraits of him here.When we saw him for the first time, he was already an old fool, trembling, sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, one hand on the back of the chair, fingers crossed, trembling and suspicious from the top of his head to his shoes and socks. Light and shadow show his timidity, nagging, triviality.Obviously, this person has gone through many things, but he has never realized a truth, so he is very panicked, but at the same time he thinks that he is experienced, and he can teach others by standing under the prestigious stone archway.The irony here is not lacking in warmth, but in a portrait nine years later, this warmth expands and becomes the most delicate caress. This time he is sitting outdoors, against the background of dense leaves, with the same white hair, Slender and slender, he looks much younger.His fear caused by ignorance of all things is now mixed into a big confusion, because of the vastness, he has calmed down, and there is such sadness, melancholy, and retirement in the downcast eyes; the narrow mouth is smiling, It is a pleasant morning in the summer garden.There is love in every stroke of this painting, for this person, this person's nostalgia for life.

Those who are interested in the exaggerated and distorted lines in modern paintings can pay special attention to the enlarged hand that has been removed from the protagonist. Significant psychological changes can also be seen in several portraits of the painter's wife.The earliest one is based on the two lovers in the traditional story, but we refer to the later portraits and know that the woman's face has many similarities with his wife.Obviously, the theme here is the painter's own love affair.The background is romantic. There are reeds and other plants growing on the shore of the lake. The morning sun shines on the woman's white headscarf, which has the feeling of "the reeds are green, and the white dew is frost".A woman puts a hand on a man's bare shoulder. She is shallow at heart, and her kindness is limited to obeying the rules. But when the sun of love shines on her, she becomes generous and wise at that moment, as if something I understood, and was moved to tears.The painter wanted her to be like this, and made her like this. Instead, he painted himself as a passive, subordinate, and personalityless young man, sitting at her feet with his head down, accepting her mercy, and his whole body seemed to be smaller than hers. number one.

Cézanne's wife first appeared in his paintings. She is a girl with a square face, big protruding eyes, and everything is very indifferent. She probably received a strict middle-level family education, so she is extremely reserved, but she is very restrained in love. Infected the ideals of the painter and sanctified their relationship. Her second appearance was a real surprise.I think it was many years later, she was sitting on an old velvet sofa that was spread out like a dark cloud, she was sewing with her head down, her eyes were protruding, and her nose was sharper than before.The chin is squarer, showing a strong will, iron tightly tied hair, collar and sleeves as hard as iron sheet, the door can be seen behind it, a blunt rectangular door with a lock on it; Flower paper, flowers on paper, each one is a small iron cross; iron-clad women's virtues, eternal smile and patience—isn't it easy to be a poor artist's wife?And all this came little by little--what a dreadful thing life is! However, five years later, Cezanne painted his wife again, but he caught her in an instant of tenderness.Her hair was loose, and she was probably wearing pajamas, satin, soft and bright with wide stripes, which could not support her.She tilted her head, thinking deeply about her thoughts, memories made her young.Of course, there is no such sadness in the young man's eyes.Those who endure hardships for their ideals later find that there is very little left of their ideals, and that point is so slim, but because of the hardships they have endured, the remaining points are better than before, like music floating in the distance, The originally simple tone is mixed with the breath of the earth and the seasons. However, this look is only temporary.In another portrait, her hair looks as if it has been cropped, like a boy, and her face also reminds one of a weather-beaten child, with a feeling of being too old.The chin is stretched forward, and the pointed half of the side is like a small rusty black foreign knife, which has just cut through the apple, and it is greasy with sour juice.She was still smiling, and there was a bleak bravery in her eyes—it should be tragic, but tragedy is a heroic thing, and she can only do it bleakly. Look at another one, which is even more unpleasant.The painter's wife is sitting in his studio, with bright floral curtains hanging slantedly above her head, and the shadow of the sun on the wall, but the light here is not hers, she is just a woman in the kitchen.She was wearing dark, greasy clothes, and what she was holding might have been a handkerchief, but from the way she held it, it should have been a rag.She was about to operate, and he asked her to be a model, and she came to sit for a while like a perfunctory child.She had been smiling all these years, and now the painter had to admit it—a tired, stupid, sloppy smile.That hard-working face has very little femininity, and one eyebrow is higher, which seems to be irony after disappointment, but it is actually the warmth after extreme familiarity.You have to look closely to see. Madame Cézanne's last portrait is lively and vivid.She sat in the garden under the sun, and the flowers and plants and the white road raised the smoke and dust of spring and summer.She was dressed in her best Sunday dresses, her whalebone girdle cinched her tightly, and she had regained the figure of a young woman, and her outstretched hands had strong, lovely wrists.However, the spring behind has nothing to do with her.The painter's environment gradually improved, and the hard days were over, but she felt that she was not used to it after being tempered in the hard days.The pleasure on her face is pleasure without content.If the bright foreground is removed, the joy on the face becomes strangely empty, almost to the point of dementia. After seeing a good wife like Mrs. Saishan, and then seeing a selfish woman, I feel relieved. "A Woman Wearing a Baotou and a Leather Scarf" has a long pale face and a long nose, big eyes with a cold charm, and the look of disdain that people from the city go to the countryside.Maybe a lady, maybe a ladylike charlatan. In a painting called "Statue", a few strokes express the firmness and hardness, the special feeling of stone.A picture cannot come nearer to a statue than this.Whether the original intention is ironic or not, I don’t know, but I think it’s a bit ironic—the typical statue of a child, with fat protruding gills, protruding belly and tendons, expresses god-like health and vitality, but in the end it expresses Greed, hatred, arrogance, excessive lust and wealth, are far away from gods, and even farther away from children. In addition, there are many themed groups taking a bath, all of which are under the forest by the water. Sometimes they are all men, but most of them are women. They seem to pay attention to the difficult-to-draw poses and the beautiful arrangement of human body patterns, especially the last one. In Zhang's "Women Along the Water", the expression of the human body gradually became abstract, which opened up the ethos of Cubism in later generations. There are two sketches of "Meat Sacrifice", which are about the public chase between men and women at the carnival.The air is chaotic, so the brushwork is also very chaotic. There is only one thing that can be seen: all women have bigger bellies than men. "The Last Day of Meat Sacrifice" is a masterpiece.Two prodigal sons, dressed as clowns, came back from a big game, one with a cane in his arms, and the other on an unsteady foot, bending over and propping up his knees, their figures were still playful, but they were walking down the mountain.All the lines are slanted, and the air is the relaxation after satisfying the desire. "Meat Thanksgiving" is a classical custom, which has been lost for a long time, but the facial expressions of the two people here are very common, sloppy, simple self-confidence, cleverness, ruthless and tasteless. "Skull and Youth" depicts a growing student sitting next to a small table, with his knees pressed against the legs of the table, as if he couldn't fit in, and everything is out of place.The student's face is indeed that of a student, mischievous, inquisitive, full of fantasies, and not very respectable.Cheap ruffled table, you can imagine the feeling of the wavy edge embedded in the meat.There are books and rulers on the table, and the skull is pressing the paper.Skulls used in medicine are very intimate things, very common, especially in school days, like the smell of sweaty feet stuffed in basketball shoes. Describing old age, there is "A Woman Wearing a Ruffled Hat". She sits with her head down and counts her rosary beads, and a fox-like face is exposed under the hat. Most of her human nature has died, and the only thing left is greed and no strength. Stealing, robbing, hoarding, so her heart is always restless; she does not seem to pray for peace, nor does it seem to be for the ideal of heaven, she just counts the small hard cores in her hand, counting the things in front of her eyes, She has not been with them for long, and she can't do anything to them, she can only lick them here and there, so that everything is covered with a layer of fishy liquid. Cézanne's own old age was nothing like this.In his last self-portrait, he wears a playboy-style "bird hat" tilted to one side, has a white beard, tall thin eyebrows, and a kind of perceptive treachery on his face, but the smile in his eyes is very Cute, as if to say: Look away, there will be spring in this world without me. ——Old age is not lovely, but old people have many lovely things.Among the landscape paintings, I like "Broken House" the most. It is a white house under the noon sun, with a black hole like a one-eyed window; Shocked, laughing to the point of collapse.The path leading to the house is no longer visible, and there are high and low grass growing all around, which is very faint and blurred in the sunlight.The choking daylight reminds people of "the ancient road of Chang'an is full of sound and dust, and the sound of dust is absolutely gone—the westerly wind shines, and the mausoleum of the Han Dynasty." But there is no majestic past here, only the desolation of the middle class, and the more empty emptiness .