Chapter 57 five seven

Our conversation was momentarily interrupted when Mrs. Coutrass saw her friend return.Mrs. Coutras burst in like a boat with bulging sails.She was a tall, fat woman with swollen, tightly corseted breasts.She has a big aquiline nose, three rings of fat drooping under her chin, and her body is straight.Lazy and indolent as tropical climates generally are, they didn't affect her in the slightest.Mrs. Coutrass, on the contrary, had a spirit, a worldly intelligence, a quickness of action, and an energy that no one in this sleepy region would have expected from her.Also, she's obviously a very talkative person; from the minute she walks in the door, she's talking about this, commenting on that, and she's talking a lot.Our conversation just now seemed very remote and unreal when Mrs. Coutras entered the room.

After a while Dr. Coutrass said to me: The picture Strickland gave me has always hung in my study.Are you going to see it? I'd love to see it. We got up and the doctor led me out onto the balcony that surrounds the house.We stood outside for a while, looking at the gorgeous blooms in his garden. I have been haunted for a long time by the strange pictures which Strickland adorned the walls of his house.he said thoughtfully. That's exactly what I had in mind.It seems that Strickland has finally fully expressed his inner world.He worked in silence, knowing full well that this was the last chance of his life.I think Strickland must have expressed the life he understood and the world he saw with his eyes in images.I also think that he may have finally found peace of mind while creating these giant paintings; the demon that haunted him was finally uprooted.His tormented life seems to have been a preparation for these frescoes, and when they were completed, his tortured soul, far away from the world, found rest.He would rather welcome death, because the goal he pursued in his life has been achieved.

What are the themes of his paintings?I asked. I'm not sure.His paintings are strange and absurd, like the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, how do I know when the universe was created?It is a hymn to human body beauty, male and female forms, and an ode to nature; nature, both sublime and indifferent, beautiful and cruel, makes you feel the infinite space and eternity of time, and makes you feel a sense of fear a feeling of.He painted many trees, coconut trees, banyan trees, flame flowers, avocados, all of which I see every day; but these trees are completely different when I look at them after he painted them, as if I saw them all Souls each have a secret, as if their souls and secrets are about to be caught by me, but they always escape.The colors were all familiar to me, but different; they all had their own particular importance.And those naked men and women, they are both earthly, the dust of their kneading, and gods.The most primitive nature of human beings is presented naked before your eyes, and you can't help feeling frightened when you see it, because what you see is yourself.

Dr. Coutras shrugged and smiled. you will laugh at me.I'm a materialist, and I'm fat and stupid, kind of like Falstaff, aren't I?The sensibility of lyric poetry is very inappropriate for me.I am making people laugh.But I really have never seen a painting that left such a deep impression on me.To be honest, when I saw this painting, I felt as if I entered the Sestine Chapel in Rome.There, I also felt that the painter who painted on the ceiling was very great, and I admired and awed him.It was a painting of genius, majestic and dizzying.In front of such a great mural, I feel very small and insignificant.But people are still mentally prepared for the greatness of Michelangelo, but in such a small wooden house where the natives lived, far away from the civilized world, in the embrace of the mountains overlooking the village of Tarao, I never expected to see to such an astonishing work of art.Plus, Michelangelo was sane and in good health.His great works give people a lofty and solemn feeling.But here, though I also saw beauty, it made me feel uneasy.I don't know what that is, but it's really disturbing me.It gave me the impression that I was sitting next door to an empty room, which I knew was empty, but for some reason I had the impression that there was someone in it again, and it frightened me.You scold yourself; you know it's just your nerves at work, but after a while you can no longer resist the fear that takes hold of you.You are held in the palm of an invisible terror from which there is no escape.Yes, I confess that I am not only sorry when I hear of the destruction of these singular masterpieces.

[Note] Falstaff: A character in Shakespeare's play "Henry IV", who is obese and likes to brag. What, ruined?I shouted. yes.do not you know? How would I know?It is true that I had not heard of these works, but I thought they had fallen into the hands of some private collector.How many paintings did Strickland paint? No one has compiled a catalog until today. Ever since he went blind he sat motionless for hours in the two frescoed rooms.He looks at his work with a pair of blind eyes, perhaps seeing more than he has seen in his entire life.Ata told me that he never complained about his fate, that he was never depressed.Until the last moment of his life, his mind was always peaceful and quiet.But he made Ata promise, and when she buried him I told you no, I dug his grave with my own hands, for no native would go near this house tainted with germs, and we both buried him in Under the mango tree, Ata and I, his body was wrapped with three Palios sewn together. He asked Aita to promise to set fire to the house, and asked her to watch the house burn down with her own eyes. Don't go away until every log is burned.

I did not speak for the greater part of the day; I fell into deep thought, and at last I said: So, he hasn't changed until his death. Do you understand?I have to tell you that at the time I felt it was my duty to dissuade her from doing it. Did you really say that afterward? Yes.Because I know it is the work of a great genius, and I don't think we have the right to deprive mankind of it.But Ata would not listen to my advice.She had already promised him.I didn't want to stay there any longer and witness the barbaric destruction firsthand.It was only after the incident that I heard people say how she did it.She poured kerosene on the dry floor and straw mats, and lit a fire.In a short while, the house was reduced to ashes, and a great masterpiece was thus reduced to ashes.

I think Strickland also knew it was a masterpiece.He's got what he's after.He can say he died without regret.He created a world and saw how beautiful his creation was.Later, in pride and contempt, he destroyed it again. I still have to show you my drawing.Dr. Coutras said, keep going. What became of Ata and their children? They moved to the Marquesas Islands.She has relatives there.I heard their children were sailors on a Cameroonian brig.People say he looks like his dead father. Walking to the door leading from the balcony to the consulting room, Dr. Coutras stopped and smiled at me.

My painting is a still life of fruit.You might think it would be inappropriate to have a painting like this hanging in a consulting room, but my wife would never have it hang in the living room.She said the painting gave off an obscenity. Can a still life of fruit be obscene?I cried out in surprise. We walked into the house and my eyes immediately fell on the painting.I have been watching it for a long time. It's a bunch of fruit: mangoes, bananas, oranges, and something I can't name.At first glance, there is nothing weird about the painting.If placed in an exhibition of Post-Impressionist paintings, a casual person will think that this is a good, but not outstanding painting. In terms of style, it is not different from this school.But after seeing it, maybe this painting will always come back to his memory, even he himself doesn't know why.From then on, I guess, he'll never be able to get it out of his mind.

The coloring of the picture is so grotesque and unsettling that it is difficult to say exactly what it feels like.The thick blue is opaque, like a finely carved lapis lazuli plate, but it trembles and sparkles, reminding one of the mysterious throbbing of life; A burning desire, vaguely reminiscent of the Roman Empire under the rule of Helios Gabalus; the red is bright and piercing, like the small red berries of the holly bush. One thinks of Christmas in England, the snow, the joyful atmosphere and children. The laughter and chatter were noisy, but the painter used his own magic brush to soften the luster, making it as tender as the breast of a pigeon, which is very pleasing to the eye; the dark yellow turns into green somewhat abruptly, giving the Man brings the fragrance of spring and the cleanliness of the foaming mountain spring.Who can know what painful fantasy created these fruits?The three Hesperides sisters who guard the golden apple orchard [Note] were not cultivated in the Polynesian orchard!The strange thing is that these fruits seem to be alive, as if they were created at the beginning of chaos, when nothing had a fixed shape, they were plump and plump, exuding a strong tropical atmosphere, as if they had a unique melancholy Feelings.They are the fruits of magic, and anyone who tastes them can open the door to the unknown soul secrets, and can enter the mysterious palace of illusion.They harbor unforeseen dangers, and a single bite may transform a man into a beast, or perhaps into a god.All the healthy and normal things, all the good friendships and simple joys of simple people are far away from them; but they are very attractive, like the wisdom fruit that can distinguish between good and evil in the Garden of Eden, It can take people into unknown realms.

【Note】According to Greek mythology, the Hesperides sisters were responsible for guarding the golden apple tree of the goddess Hera, and the dragon Radon helped guard it. In the end, I left the painting.I feel like Strickland has been taking his secrets to the grave. Hey, Rene, my dear, Mrs. Coutras' cheerful and loud voice is heard outside. What have you been doing all this time?The aperitif is ready.Ask the gentleman if he would like a small glass of Guinapi du Bonnet. Of course I would, madam.I said as I walked to the balcony. The charm of the picture is broken.