艺术的力量（2006）

His sickness was both the destroyer and the midwife of his masterpieces.
因为在疾病发作时的痉挛间歇中
For it was precisely between the spasms of craziness
文森特看到了最热烈的世界景象
that Vincent saw the world most intensely.
于是仿佛着了魔 他也开始认为在人世间也应该有天堂的存在
Was suddenly possessed of his vision that heaven could exist here on earth.
他的使命从来都没有这么明朗过
His mission had never been clearer.
这些灰色的 炽烈的 汹涌澎湃的作品
These grey, broiling, surging works
它们并不是疯狂的结果 其实情况恰恰相反
aren't the product of his madness, they're exactly the opposite.
它们是文森特在崩溃边缘与疾病抗争的记录
They're the documents of Vincent's battle to keep disintegration at bay.
有没有人买♥♥已经不重要了
Whether Theo can sell them doesn't matter any more.
它们充满了狂热 但同时也很清醒
They're wild, but they're also deeply sane.
他是一个能完全驾驭自己绘画能力的人
A man in total control of his painterly faculties.
他也许已经感受到了地震的震动
He may have sensed the seismic tremors
大地在脚下隆起 然后裂开的大地将会再一次闭合
that the ground would once again buckle and heave beneath his feet,
但是手中的画笔却从没有像现在握得这么紧
but his grip on the brush was never stronger.
好吧 我就在这里 永远站在这里
Well, here I am, at it again.
我几乎能感到自己那再一次完全的清醒
I could almost feel I have a new spell of lucidity before me.
只有当疾病的攻击来临的时候才会如此
It's just that the attacks, when they come,
好吧 我不晓得 但是我该做些什么呢？
well, I don't know. But what is one to do?
世上无药可治 除了一件事
There's no remedy, except one,
那就是去工作
which is to work.
当然 我们苦苦寻觅的也许只是
What we're looking at, of course, is only incidentally
偶然的一节柏树枝（哀悼的标志）
a stand of cypresses,
还有大如车轮 并且还在旋转着的星星
the cart-wheeling stars.
我们长久一来苦苦寻觅的
What we're looking at always
其实就是文森特的大脑在想些什么
is the inside of Vincent's head.
对于任何自我折磨外在流露过敏的人来说
For anyone allergic to the outpourings of the crucified ego,
那总是有些尴尬为难
it's all a bit of an embarrassment.
但是对于芸芸众生
But for millions more of us,
那却是一条联结彼此感情的纽带
an emotional connection is made.
他画下的每一笔就像是一个个自己的人生符号♥
Every mark of Vincent's stabbing brush seems like a personal letter to us.
在那些富有同情心的理解之后
We're moved by its humane openness,
我们被他那博大仁慈的胸怀和无条件的信念所感动
by his unconditional belief in our sympathetic understanding.
在1889年 梵高画了自己最后一幅自画像
In 1889, van Gogh painted his final self-portrait.
文森特称之为一次平静的学习
Vincent himself described it as a study in calm,
在作品中 他头上盘旋着一个个漩涡状物
which seems a stretch when we get pulled into the vortex
它们随着梵高的发♥浪♥在起舞
of all those whirlpools of paint that coil round his head,
当我们被吸进其中的时候，我们会发现它其实是种延伸
ride through the waves of his hair,
就像是偏头痛的那种悸动
as if the pulses of some engulfing migraine
这些无情的跳动随之传遍 他那那被侵蚀了的身体
were throbbing mercilessly through his invaded body.
这是身体和精神双重悲痛的临床表现
A clinical map of physical and mental distress.
但是他并没有屈服 不是吗？
But he's not gone under, has he?
把疼痛撞击声着色后形成的漩涡海洋
The cast of the face around which the swirling ocean of painted pain crashes
包绕着的面部表情却很平静 警惕
is calm, watchful.
而他为这些漩涡着色时选择的颜色 不知何故倒使它们显得不怎么病态
And the colour he's chosen somehow makes the engulfing waves less morbid.
相反 他内心坚定无比
Against it, he flies the flag of red-blooded resolution.
这位警惕且好斗的战士的红色毛发勾勒出下巴的轮廓
Jaw line contoured by the brisling red hair of the fighter, watchful, pugnacious.
在这场艺术对抗疯狂的英勇战斗中
For despite the heroic battle, art against craziness,
梵高知道有时候做什么也没有用
Vincent knew that sometimes nothing would avail.
数日来 我的思绪在疯狂的四处游荡
For days, my mind has been wandering wildly,
它一定在期望着下一次攻击
and it must be expected that the attacks
能够早些到来
will recur in the future.
很显然
It is frightful,
这种想法很可怕
apparently.
我从地面拾起一块泥土
I pick up dirt from the floor
然后就把它吃了
and eat it.
味道的确很糟糕
Worse, actually.
我努力复原
I'm trying to recover,
就像那些铁了心想自杀的人
like someone who was meant to commit suicide,
因为发现水太冷 又游回了岸边
but then makes for the bank because he finds the water too cold.
于是他生存下来了
He's survived, then.
事实上 他正处在一场创造力大爆发的边缘
In fact, he's on the brink of a great power surge of creative fury.
他烦躁不安 想到别的什么地方走走
He's fidgeting to get going, to be somewhere else,
期冀为这场爆发找到哪怕一处小小的突破口
to let all that inventive energy rip.
接下来发生的事情简直就是个奇迹
What's happening is a miracle.
他在画布上把自己内心的精神剧变酝酿成了一次革命
He's translating mental upheaval into a revolution on the canvas.
提奥意识到这将是哥哥梵高的伟大时刻
Theo sensed that this was a tremendous moment for his brother,
但同时他也担心文森特可能会被浓重的画面所吞噬
but he worried that Vincent might implode from the intensity of it.
如果真要发生一场革命的话 它肯定是在一处避难所酝酿的
If there was going to be a revolution, it would have to be one made in a refuge.
而提奥就恰恰处在那个地方
Theo had just the right place,
巴黎北部20英里处一个名叫 Auvers-sur-Oise的小村庄
the village of Auvers-sur-Oise,20 miles north of Paris.
一个恰当人选照料着梵高 他就是保罗.加歇特医生
And the right man to keep an eye on his brother, Dr Paul Gachet,
此人是个业余艺术家 但是要补充一点 他也是治疗忧郁症的专家
amateur artist, but more to the point, a specialist in melancholy.
他开的处方看来起了作用
The prescription for maximum output with minimum stress seemed to be working.
文森特好像又能与最亲近的人共享快乐时光了
Vincent appeared to be able to relax with his nearest and dearest.
我被这个广袤的平原地带深深的吸引着
I am absorbed in this immense plain
山脚下是广阔的麦田
with wheatfields against the hills,
就像海洋一样无边无际
boundless as the sea.
所以当自然景色成为脑海中的映像之后
So while the landscapes are mindscapes,
它们就变得疯狂起来了
they're anything but deranged.
它们坚定不移 无所畏惧
They're unflinching, tumultuous, heroic,
如英雄般喧嚣着 还是全新的
and completely new.
而且这是其中最令人吃惊的
And here's the most startling of them all,
“麦田群鸦”
Wheatfield with Crows.
这并不是假设去谈论梵高的虚弱
Not for what it's supposed to say about van Gogh's frailty,
因为从根本上我并不认为 创作这幅作品的艺术家是脆弱的
because I don't think the artist who painted this was frail at all,
但是这幅作品却关乎艺术创作的传统
but for what it says about the conventions of art.
这幅作品表现出了梵高个人的完全支配能力
It shows Vincent in total command,
再也没有像他那样猛烈的蔑视传统的人了
never fiercer in his contempt for the rules.
在他执著的摈弃风景绘画的整个历史之后
In his headlong rush to junk the entire history of landscape painting.
他开始运用透视画法
Starting with perspective.
其关注的焦点就定在如何去 创作关于内心深处的一个幻象
Its whole point had been to create an illusion of deep space,
所以画家的眼睛将会在遥远的地平线上游弋
so that the eye could confidently wander through to a distant horizon.
但是这里的透视画法是颠倒的 是一条死路 哪儿也去不了
But here perspective is reversed, it's a road that goes nowhere.
作品两翼的路径好像是垂直升起的
And the two flanking paths just seem to rise up vertically
它们穿过画面 像是扑动的翅膀
through the picture, like flapping wings.
这些绿边是什么 草 篱笆 抑或是树木的一部分？
And what are those green borders? Grass, hedges, a corner of a tree?
关于如何阅读视觉标记的含义
All our signals, our assumptions about how to read visual signs
我们所有的假设和讯号♥已经乱成一团糟了
have been wickedly scrambled.
那么 我们究竟在寻找什么呢？
So what are we looking at?
有点窒息 那是肯定的 但是也有些兴高采烈
Suffocation, sure, but elation too.
那些乌鸦可能会朝我们飞过来
Those crows might be coming at us,
但是那些乌鸦也可能会飞走 魔鬼（乌鸦是阴间使者） 飞走了
but equally they might be flying away, demons gone,
但同样的 当我们完全沉浸在大自然的力量之中
as we sink into a total immersion in the power of nature.
当我们沉浸在由挣扎而又灿烂辉煌的作品构成的一面厚重的墙壁中时
And into a massive wall of writhing, brilliant paint
这幅画中的颜色好像在颤抖悸动 在摇摆不定
in which the colour itself seems to tremble and pulse and sway.
正是由这些一块块颜色 堆砌成的一个无拘无束的生命
And it's with this independent life of formed blocks of colour
令梵高创造出了现代主义艺术
that Vincent van Gogh creates modern art.
在因为恐惧而发抖的同时
This physical feeling, simultaneously thrilling and terrifying,
这种被画面活生生的吞下去的感觉
of being swallowed alive in paint,
存在于许多现代主义作品之中
lies at the heart of so much modern art.
自从在荷兰北部黑暗荒野中第一次拿起画笔的时候
And it was what Vincent had been yearning to realise, ever since he picked up a brush
这就是梵高长久以来所向往的境界
on the dark moors of north Holland.
他的朝圣之旅已经坚持到了最后
The pilgrim had gone the distance.
我并不认为有哪怕是一丁点 这样的可能性的存在
I don't think there's the slightest possibility that accomplishing this revolution
即梵高是在认为这场艺术革命已经接近尾声 所以才有了自杀的渴望
could have been a moment of suicidal despair for Vincent van Gogh.
在他的作品里 他从来没有像如今这样富于想象力 这样才华横溢
In his art, he'd never been more visionary, never more brilliant,
但他的生活却不是这样
but not in his life.
因为春天过去夏天来临 文森特真切的意识到了前方的麻烦
For as spring turned to summer, Vincent really did think trouble lay ahead.
正巧在自己的作品开始吃香的时候
Even as his own painting was going brilliantly,
他最可信赖的人-提奥开始有些动摇了
his tower of strength, Theo, began to look shaky.
家庭带给他的天伦之乐如今变成了忧虑 甚至是痛苦
The pleasure he'd taken in his family now turned to worry, and even pain.
也许是提奥不得不把妻儿放在第一位
Perhaps Theo's wife and baby would have to come first.
亲爱的弟弟 弟妹
Dear brother and sister,
我仍然能感受到带给你们危险的那场风暴 我也不好受
I still continue to feel the storm which threatens you, weighing on me too.
你是知道的 我努力去真正的快乐起来
You see, I try to be genuinely cheerful,
但我的生活也举步维艰
but my life is also threatened at the very root
我的脚步摇摆不定 不能前行
and my steps are wavering.
而你却连举手之劳都不肯帮
And you do not lift a finger.
当提奥从巴黎赶来时 文森特已经受了重伤
When Theo arrived from Paris, he found Vincent mortally wounded,
他向自己的腹部开了一枪
a single shot to the abdomen.
兄弟俩偎依在一起