凡·高与晨星－艺术宝库－休闲区－轻松英语

　　凡·高与晨星

　Van Gogh & the Starry Night

　　looking at the stars always makes me dream.... Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach[1] a star."
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--- Vincent Van Gogh

　　When Vincent van Gogh was a patient in an asylum[2] at Saint-Rémy in the south of France, he wrote to his brother Theo: "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but[3] the morning star, 星光灿烂

which looked very big." The morning star is another name for Venus, and it may be the large white pulsating form, just to the left of center in this painting. Van Gogh stayed up[4] three nights in a row[5] to paint the view from his window in the asylum, because, as he said, "the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."
　　But van Gogh was not just painting an image of what he saw. In fact, the church spire here is typical of Holland, the artist's native country. So this is a picture rooted in his imagination and memory as well[6]--a fantastic, apocalyptic vision of the night sky. What others might have viewed as a placid scene, van Gogh has rendered in heaving and churning waves. Each stroke of paint is more than a dab of color--it's a field of energy, as well.
　　The contrast between the chaos of the heavens and the quiet order of the

village below is remarkable. The cyprus tree--known as the tree of death for its traditional associations with graveyards and mourning--creates a flamelike connection between the earth and sky. But for van Gogh, a man of strong Christian faith, death was not ominous; it was the path to heaven.

　　Gogh, Vincent (Willem) van (b. March 30, 1853,.--d. July 29, 1890), generally considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt[7]; he powerfully influenced the current of Expressionism in modern art. His work, all of it produced during a period of only 10 years, hauntingly conveys through its striking colour, coarse[8] brushwork, and contoured forms the anguish of a mental illness that eventually resulted in[9] suicide Among his masterpieces is the well-known The Starry Night

注释：

1. reach: Reach，"到达"，是及物动词直接跟宾语，比如：I reached Beijing on Monday morning .当用它的近义词arrive 时，就需要在后面加介词 at , 刚才那句话就成为：I arrived at Beijing on Monday morning .

2. asylum: asylum 是"庇护；庇护所"的意思，我们在新闻中经常听到的"某某人请求政治避难"就是用这个词：ask for political asylum. 它的近义词：refuge 更是我们常用的，比如：seek refuge from the floods.

3. nothing… but…: but 在这里不是连词"但是"的意思，而是和 nothing 连在一起，充当介词的角色，表示"出……之外没有"。But 在作介词时，通常和否定词 no one ,none ,nothing 等连用。

4. stay up: stay 有"待着"的意思，up 是"立起来"，合在一起，意思是 "站着待着"，引申即是"待着不睡觉"。工作多的时候，会加班到很晚，就是：I stayed up working until midnight.

5. in a row: in a row是"在一排"，凡·高三个晚上不睡觉，用了 three nights in a row，来强调他连续工作。在看下面的例句：Behind there was a row of low houses.

6. as well: 除了 too, also 之外，英语中还有其它表达"也"的词。我们在这里遇到的 as
well 就表达这样的意思

星光灿烂

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　[荷兰] 文森特·凡·高　1889

　　
　　"……凝望着璀璨的星空，我总是不由得浮想联翩…… 我不禁问自己，为什么夜空中闪烁的亮点不能像法国地图上的黑色标志那样容易达到呢？我们只需坐上火车就可以到达特鲁斯肯或卢昂，而到达星星那里却要经历一次死亡之旅。"
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　----文森特·凡·高
　　当凡·高因病住在法国南部的圣雷米疯人院时，他写信给他的弟弟提奥说：" 今天早晨日出之前，我从窗户注视野外很长时间。除了天空中闪烁的晨星--它们看起来非常大，其他什么也没看到。" 晨星也叫金星，也许就是这幅画左边的那个闪烁的白色星星。为了从疯人院窗口去描绘所看到的夜景，凡· 高一连三个晚上都没有睡觉。因为，正象他说过的：" 黑夜比白天更有生气，色彩也更丰富。"
　　但是凡·高描绘的不仅仅是他所看到的景色，事实上，画面中的教蝴蝶花

堂的尖顶是荷兰--画家的祖国--所特有的，所以这幅作品是也是源自画家的想象和记忆，是一种幻想的，天启的夜空景色。凡. 高所描绘的那些搅动着的旋涡似的星辰，在其他人看来也许只是宁静平凡的景色。但是在凡· 高的画中每一个笔触都不仅仅是单纯的颜料上色，同时还充满了能量活力。
　　画面中杂乱无章的天空和地面上宁静有序的村庄之间的对比非常引人注目。柏树通常代表着死亡，因为它常常和坟墓、哀悼联系在一起。然而在这里，画家创作出的柏树形象却仿佛是连接天与地的火焰般的纽带。对于坚信基督教的凡. 高来说，死亡不是灾祸，而是通向天堂的道路。

画家简介：

　　文森特·凡·高（1853年5月--1890年7月29日），被普遍认为是继伦勃朗之后的最伟大的荷兰画家。他对现代艺术中的表现主义趋势有着巨大影响。他所有的作品都是在十年之内创作的，通过令人眩目的颜色、粗犷的画风和描线的轮廓，表达了画家深受精神病的折磨而无法自拨的痛苦，而这种痛苦最终导致了凡·高的自杀。这幅《星光灿烂》是他的代表作之一（1889）。

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。比如说：You undertook other important work as well. 你也担当其他重要的工作。

7. Rembrandt 是荷兰画家（1606-1669）。绘画有独特风格，作品有《磨房》、《浪子回家》等。

8. coarse: coarse 是"（质料）粗糙的，粗的"。以前我们曾穿过粗布衣服，其中"粗布"在英语中就是用的这个词： coarse cloth, 而粗砂糖则是：coarse sugar.

9. result in : result 的名词用法我们都很熟悉，但在这里它作动词和介词 in 连接在一起，表示 "致使，导致"。比如， The accident resulted in three deaths.这个事故导致3人死亡。