The Wild Boy of Van Gogh's Biography

When most people mention Van Gogh, they almost think: "He is a mental patient". Old Mr. Wang must say that if you keep reading his stories with this pair of "colored glasses", you may never understand him, let alone his art. First of all, many "crazy people" are not "crazy" from the beginning, and they may all be normal people in their early years; Secondly, all "madness" has a reason, which is closely related to the surrounding living environment and one's own life experience. In fact, I prefer to think that Vincent was a normal person in his early years, but with some personality defects such as loneliness, stubbornness and fanaticism. Maybe you will find that at some moments, you look like him. Now, let's put aside some prejudices and set out. On a sunny afternoon in May, 1851, in the church in The Hague, the Netherlands, Anna Ka Bentes married the priest Theo Dolos Van Gogh. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch royal family. Every May, flowers bloom aimlessly on roadsides, parks and ponds, and the air is fragrant and warm, just like an Eden. Although the window is picturesque and the interior is noble and elegant, you may find that the bride's face seems to have a trace of sadness. Because she knows that the good times won't last long. Ka Bentes's family had a lot of troubles, including wars, floods, fires, plagues and other disasters. In her early years, Anna, like her parents, also experienced many hardships given to her by fate: her brother never took an ordinary road all his life and ended his life early; My sister suffered from epilepsy, was left out in the cold and never married. Even my father, who had a successful career, died of the plague at the age of 53. After experiencing such misfortune, Anna developed a gloomy outlook on life very early. She always felt that happiness was in jeopardy, full of fear for the future and fatalism for life. After the ceremony, leaving the bustling and exquisite Hague, the newlyweds set off for the desolate Dherdt, the hometown of pastor Dolores. Dolores' home is called the Pastor's Mansion, which is located in the busiest street in Dherdt, Tianjin. Two years later, Vincent Van Gogh was born. Subsequently, Anna gave birth to six children in succession. In the next twenty years, Anna devoted herself wholeheartedly to her family, and branded her narrow and conservative values on her children. She believes that family happiness is the foundation of all happiness, and spares no effort to tell the story of blood is thicker than water and the pain of parting. Letters between Van Gogh family members are quite frequent, which is largely influenced by this value. Although we say that Dherdt is desolate, here, the Van Gogh family still inherits the "nobility" from The Hague: every day, the family walks around the town for an hour, with gardens, fields and dusty street scenes along the way. Anna takes care of a garden. Every spring, the activity center of the family turns to the garden. Anna reads under the awning and the children play among the crops. After dinner, everyone will sit around the fire, and his father Dolores will teach them the history of his country and reminisce about the "golden age" of Holland in the 17th century. At night, reading will begin, or parents will read to their children, or children will read to their parents. Besides the Bible, there are also European romantic works, sad novels, Andersen's fairy tales and so on. Christmas is the most important festival in the family. When the family is reunited, Santa Claus will hand out candy and gifts, and Christmas carols will be lingering in the priest's residence. Anna will decorate the Christmas tree with the children, and everyone will laugh and laugh, which is very warm. Pastor and his wife have a high reputation in the small elite circle in Dherdt, Tianjin. In order to maintain their good reputation, Anna makes the children dress appropriately and forbids them to associate with the "lower class". If you pass by the pastor's residence in Dherdt, maybe you will find a head sticking out of the attic window, and his eyes are looking at the market. I don't know what he is thinking. This little guy is our Vincent. He is covered with red hair, freckles are densely distributed on his face, and his small eyes are blue. If you visit the priest's residence, the little guy will escape from the living room and go back to the attic to do his own thing alone. Like others, you will sigh, "Oh, that's a strange boy". Vincent is irritable, rebellious and unsociable. He lost his temper from time to time, which made the family restless. Once, my grandmother couldn't bear it, and she slapped him in the face and asked him to go out. He often rebelled against others. His mother praised his clay sculpture once, and when he turned around, he smashed it into pieces, because he thought his mother's praise was too much. "He is always deliberately making trouble, which really hurts our brains," my father complained. Gradually, Vincent became separated from his family. He felt unprecedented frustration and began to think about fleeing. Nature called him, and he began to wander around, through barns, valleys, streams, and to the far end of the wilderness. He often stops in the heather, the swamp covered with broom, and the wetland covered with rushes. It was during these excursions to the wilderness that Vincent discovered the unique sky and light in the Netherlands: the strange combination of ocean water vapor and changing clouds fascinated many artists. Vincent carefully stared at the life in the wilderness: the blooming of a flower, the production of a bug, and the nesting of a bird. The sparrow flew over the top of the church and settled in the nest hidden by rye. He followed all the way through the tall wheat fields without breaking a straw. In order to make up for the huge emptiness, Vincent fell in love with the collection. He will collect wild flowers that grow on the stream and grass, he will use some knowledge about migratory birds to collect bird eggs, and he will even put beetles brought back from the wild into bottles and take them home to scare his younger brothers and sisters. These early experiences of keeping company with nature have exercised his keen observation and will deeply influence his art later. Vincent's childhood was lonely, accompanied by the wilderness of Dherdt. When he was seven years old, his parents sent Vincent to a public elementary school near his home. They had reason to think that Vincent would be a good student, because Vincent was not only smart, but also well prepared. But Vincent's playfulness collided with the headmaster, and he was often beaten badly. So he began to play truant. Parents tried their best to save Vincent's precarious studies, but they all ended in failure. Two years later, Vincent was ordered to leave school. Parents blame the school, and they think those country children are a bad influence on him. In the next three years, my parents tried to educate Vincent at home. They hired a tutor at a high price. The course was designed by his father Dolores himself. Every day, Vincent was taught some religious poems, which was his father's favorite. But Vincent was not interested in it. Although Dolores was very patient, he could not cope with the unruly child. After that, Vincent was sent to boarding school. This is an aristocratic school, the students are the children of famous senior officials, squires and wealthy businessmen in the province, and the teaching staff is quite excellent. As a clergyman, my father obviously enjoyed special treatment, otherwise Vincent's tuition fees would obviously be a heavy burden for this big family that is not rich. But Vincent felt abandoned and his heart was filled with loneliness. In the next two years, Vincent's loneliness became stronger and stronger. As the new redhead with a country accent, bad temper and strange behavior, little Vincent was isolated by other students. Dull and sensitive personality made him sink deeper and deeper in the sadness of adolescence. Many years later, Vincent stayed in the mental hospital in San Remy and wrote, "I feel out of place, just like going back to boarding school when I was 12 years old." After that, his parents transferred Vincent to another boarding school, but it was no different for Vincent, but he continued his exile. In March 1868, two months before the end of the semester, Vincent left school. He went back after a long walk and didn't take the train. It was a self-punishing escape, but anyway, he went home. Vincent's departure became a joke of the Van Gogh family. Parents have a great headache about the placement of this child. However, the opportunity has come. Just a few months ago, Vincent's uncle, the brother of his father Dolores, won the highest honor award in the country-the Oak Knight Laureate. In his early years, Uncle Saint went into the sea to do business, engaged in the art trading industry, earned a lot of money, and became a partner of Gupir Company, a very famous international gallery in Europe at that time. Uncle Vincent's successful career made his parents look forward to Vincent. In addition, Vincent had no children. They thought that if Vincent could seize the opportunity, he might become the heir to Vincent's career. So Vincent was sent to The Hague and became a staff member of the Cooper Company. In The Hague, Vincent started his new life. He seems to want to atone for his past, and he shows great efforts. He changed into a young gentleman's outfit. Instead of hanging out in the wilderness alone and keeping company with flowers and birds, he learned from the fashionable young people at that time and spent the weekend on the beach in Sifanningen. Vincent's direct supervisor is called Testiger. He is young and promising. At the age of 24, he was promoted to the manager of the headquarters of Gupir Company in The Hague. Testiger also cared for Vincent and invited him to his home many times. Vincent took Testiger as an example and devoted all his energy to his work. He found the works of art needed by customers in a large inventory, carefully folded them, packaged them and mailed them out, and occasionally he went to the dock to help pack them on board. It was here that Vincent became enthusiastic about art. He began to eagerly read art books from Holland and other places; He often visits the Royal Museum of Morris. Among the paintings in the golden age, there are Vermeer's Taift Landscape and Rembrandt's Anatomy Class. He is full of pilgrimage, and goes to Amsterdam to see hals's The Happy Drunken and Rembrandt's Night Patrol, to Brussels to see the treasures of Flemish "Primitive Man" and to Antwerp to see Rubens. Influenced by barbizon school, a group of young Dutch artists set off an artistic revolution in The Hague. They described the customs and scenery of the Netherlands at that time in a realistic way, which is the "Hague School of Painting". They liberated Dutch art from the shackles of the golden age. Vincent met these famous young painters early. In 1871, a French painter named Monet appeared in Holland, but they never met. It seems that the situation is so beautiful, but after more than ten years, Vincent regards his time in The Hague as a "painful day". Because of his relationship with Uncle Vincent and Vincent's prickly and withdrawn personality, Vincent was later squeezed out by other employees. In 187, Saint became seriously ill, and the power of the gallery in The Hague fell to Testiger. Vincent's direct boss and former friend made a 18-degree change in his attitude towards Vincent, which made Vincent miserable. Soon after, Vincent began to haunt brothels. For those women who "fall into the dust", Vincent always has a feeling of being in the same boat and appreciate each other, and he is eager to communicate with them. Unfortunately, this kind of thing was spread throughout the Van Gogh family. (to be continued)

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This article mainly refers to the Biography of Van Gogh by Steven Naifei and Gregory White Smith. For more details, please support the original version.