梵高：画语人生（2010）

painting the grounds here and the ward.
他住院五个月
After five months in hospital,
或许心里还惦记着他不稳定的精神状态
mindful perhaps of his precarious mental state,
他不情愿地独自回到了黄房♥子的家
he was reluctant to return home alone to the Yellow House.
在提奥的帮助下
And with Theo’s help,
他自愿住进了附近圣雷米的精神病院
he voluntarily admitted himself to the nearby asylum at Saint-Remy.
亲爱的院长 经当事人
Dear Director, with the agreement
也就是我哥哥的同意
of the person involved, who is my brother,
我写信请求你获准文森特·威廉·梵高
I am writing to request the admission into your institution
住进你们的精神病院
of Vincent Willem van Gogh.
我请求你将他与你们的三等病人安排在一起
I ask you to admit him with your third-class residents.
如果他想离开你们医院
I hope you will have no objection
外出作画
to allowing him the freedom to paint
届时希望你不会反对
outside your institution whenever he wishes to do so.
另外
Further,
关于他需要的照顾 我就不多说了
without elaborating on the attention he will require,
但我想
but which I assume
应该会受到与你们其他病人一视同仁的待遇
is given with the same care to all your residents,
我希望你能允许他至少
I hope you will be so kind as to allow him to have at least
每餐喝半升酒
half a litre of wine with his meals.
文森特于1889年5月8日到达圣雷米
Vincent arrived here at Saint-Remy on 8th May 1889,
他将在这儿待上一年
where he would remain for a year.
他在这段时期写的信
The letters he wrote during that time
是令人心碎的告白
are a heart-wrenching confession
写下了他渐渐屈服于自己的病情
of his coming to terms with his condition.
我想告诉你
I wanted to tell you that
我来这儿是件好事
I’ve done well to come here.
一开始 在这个动物园
First, in seeing the reality of the lives of the
看到真正的疯子 精神病
mad, cracked people in this menagerie.
我对他们的朦胧的恐惧消失了
I’m losing the vague dread, the fear of the thing. And…
我逐渐能把疯狂
little by little, I can come to consider madness
也看做是一种病症
as being an illness like any other.
据我所知 这里的医生倾向于
As far as I know, the doctor here is inclined to
认为我的疾病是一种
consider what I’ve had as an attack of
癫痫发作
an epileptic nature.
或许奇怪的是 这可怕的发作
It’s quite odd perhaps that the result of this terrible attack is
整的我浑浑噩噩
that in my mind there’s hardly any really clear desire or
了无希望
hope left.
我在考虑干脆承认我就是个全职疯子了
I’m thinking of squarely accepting my profession as a madman.
有时数日 甚至数周
There were days, sometimes weeks,
文森特不能作画
when Vincent was unable to work,
被精神疾病所折磨
tormented by spells of mental illness.
但其他时候 他的创造力却叹为观止
But these alternated with periods of amazing creativity
他也极其高产
in which he was extremely productive.
他获准在周围的乡村作画
He was given permission to paint in the surrounding countryside
并给身在巴黎的提奥寄去了十数幅画
and sent dozens of paintings to Theo in Paris.
谢谢你寄来的画布
Thanks very much for the consignment of canvases,
颜料 画笔 烟草和巧克力
colours, brushes, tobacco and chocolate,
我都完好地收到了
which reached me in good order.
我非常高兴
I was very glad of it,
我正渴望多画些画
for I was pining for work a little.
另外 这几日
Also, for a few days now
我一直出去在这附近作画
I’ve been going outside to work in the neighbourhood.
多美的山水 多美的蓝色 多美的太阳啊
What a beautiful land and what beautiful blue and what a sun.
我的画笔在我指尖游走
So then my brush goes between my fingers
仿佛飞舞在小提琴上的琴弓
as if it were the bow on a violin and
完全随我的心意舞动
absolutely for my pleasure.
我在努力完成一幅画
I’m struggling with a canvas
是我抱恙几天前开始的画的
begun a few days before my indisposition.
是一幅收割者的习作 画面一片黄色
A reaper, the study is all in yellow,
我着色很厚
terribly thickly impasted,
但画的主题却是简单而美丽的
but the subject was beautiful and simple.
一个模糊的身影 像个魔鬼
A vague figure struggling like a devil
在炎炎烈日下 辛苦地完成他的工作
in the full heat of the day to reach the end of his toil.
然后我在画里看到了死亡的形象
And then saw the image of death in it,
就是说人最终也会像麦子一样被收割
in the sense that humanity would be like the wheat being reaped.
译注: 在西方 死神的形象是身披黑袍 手持镰刀
可以说
So, if you like,
这与我之前画的播种者正相反 但是…
it’s the opposite of that sower I tried before. But…
这样的死亡并不哀伤
in this death, nothing’s sad,
它发生在光天化日之下
it takes place in broad daylight with a sun that
太阳给万物洒下了一层金色
floods everything with a light of fine gold.
你最近的画作 让我对你
Your latest paintings have given me a great deal to think about
作画时候的心理状态 想了很多
as regards your state of mind when you made them.
所有的画作都蕴含着
All of them have
色彩的力量
a power of colour
这是你之前没做到的
which you hadn’t attained before,
就其本身而言
which in itself is
已是少见的才华
a rare quality,
但你却更上一层楼
but you’ve gone further.
可你的大脑一定工作得非常辛苦
But how hard your mind must have worked
你甚至冒险把自己推向极限
and how you endangered yourself to the extreme point where
都不免产生了眩晕
vertigo is inevitable.
让我安静地继续作画吧
Let me quietly continue my work.
如果不能作画我就要疯掉 那也没办法
If it’s that of a madman, well then, too bad.
那我也无计可施
Then I can’t do anything about it.
就在此期间
And around this time,
文森特得到了他一生唯一的评论
Vincent got the only review ever to appear in his lifetime,
评论出自年轻的评论家 艾伯特·奥瑞耶
by the young critic, Albert Aurier.
艾伯特·奥瑞耶 艺术评论家
他的作品的整体特征
What characterises his works as a whole
是过剩的力度
is its excess of strength,
过度的神经质
of nervousness,
是那种激烈的表达
its violence of expression.
我们已经了解他的用色
His colour we know already,
难以置信的炫目
unbelievably dazzling
并且有种金属的宝石般的质感
with this metallic, jewel-like quality.
从他对事物特征的决断中
In his categorical affirmation of character of things,
我们看到了一个强势的形象
a powerful figure is revealed –
具有阳刚之气
masculine
大胆的
daring,
甚至常常是野蛮的
very often brutal
可有时
yet sometimes
却又天才的细腻
ingeniously delicate.
文森特在圣雷米待了一年多
Vincent stayed at St Remy for over a year,
但他怕被人冠以疯子艺术家的名号♥
but he began to fear being labelled the mad artist,
所以他又一次
so once again,
向提奥求助
he asked Theo for help.
1♥8♥9♥0年5月4日
我认为我不够资格
I don’t feel competent enough
去评判这里对待病人的方式
to judge the way they treat patients here,
我也并不想细说
and nor do I have any desire to enter into the detail,
但请你想想六个月前
but please remember that around six months ago
我曾说过
I warned you
如果我受到此类危机感的困扰
that if I was seized by a crisis of a similar nature,
我会想要转院
that I would wish to change asylums.
我已经耽搁太久了
And I’ve delayed too long already,
在此期间就发生了一次发作
having allowed an attack to go by in the meantime.
我那时正在作画
I was then in the middle of work,
我一心想完成那幅画
and I wanted to finish canvases in progress,
否则我现在就不在了
otherwise I would no longer be here by now.
好吧
Right, so
我想跟你说
I’m going to tell you
我认为在两周内
that it seems to me that a fortnight,
当然一周就更好了
though a week would please me more,
就足够让我转院了
should be enough to take the necessary steps to move.
裴伦医生
圣雷米疗养院院长
这名病人在疗养院住院期间
During his stay in the home, this patient,
绝大部分时间很平静
who is calm for most of the time,
但有过几次发作
has had several attacks
持续时间从两周到一个月不等
lasting for between two weeks and a month.
他病发期间 他陷入极度恐慌中
During these attacks, he is subject to terrifying terrors,