Almighty painter

Chapter 1038 Gu Weijing's New Clothes
"Upper-middle class – that's a very interesting term."

Gu Wei said.

“When I was in school, I always thought that people like Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, oh yes, Rembrandt… Picasso said that every great painter should like Rembrandt.”

“I always thought that someone like Rembrandt, who became famous in his teens and whose paintings could buy a house, was a typical member of the upper class.”

"Later I found out that wasn't the case."

“If Rembrandt was truly of the upper class, then… what about Rembrandt’s employers, those people in his paintings? Mademoiselle Maria Tripp was a member of the upper class, but Rembrandt, who painted the portrait of Maria Tripp, was not. Madame de Pompadour was a member of the upper class, but many of those who attended Madame de Pompadour’s art salon were not.”

"They look very similar, but there are actually subtle differences between them."

“Upper-middle class, they are the semi-upper class, they imitate the lives of the upper class in every way. Rembrandt had a private carriage, servants, butlers, his own estate, and spent money lavishly, looking particularly upper class. But he was always a member of the semi-upper class, he existed by attaching himself to the upper class.”

"He is a vine."

"He was always caught up in the daily life and consumption habits of the upper class, yet he could never truly integrate into it. For the true 'upper class,' art existed as a consumer good, like an expensive set of handcrafted furniture from the time of Louis XIV."

“You might appreciate an expensive set of handcrafted furniture from the Louis XIV era, or an enamel pocket watch, but you won’t mistake yourself for a set of handcrafted furniture from the Louis XIV era, or an enamel pocket watch. That’s the difference.”

"Do you know who would think they live for a set of Louis XIV handcrafted furniture or an enamel pocket watch? It's precisely those members of the semi-upper class."

"Many of the words are particularly interesting."

In English, there's a word for this kind of person: 'Wannabe'.

The man said, "This word has three parts, wan-na-be... which sounds a lot like 'want to be'."

“They imitated the lives of the upper class in every way, but could never truly become them. Rembrandt liked to dress himself and his wife, who came from a prostitute background, like royalty in their daily lives, but they could never become real royalty.”

"prostitute?"

Mr. Sloth noticed the emphasis in Gu Weijing's words.

"Well, when I mention prostitutes, I'm not trying to make any strong moral judgments. I think it's a good symbol for the people who are being consumed. It materializes a beautiful relationship or a seemingly noble concept, turning it into a fast-paced consumer product."

"The only problem is that for those 'sex workers,' there are probably a lot of helplessness and pain in their lives. In most cases, most people probably don't want to be prostitutes. But many people enjoy this situation. To be honest, compared to that, prostitutes are probably much more noble."

"The term 'prostitute' describes a state of being, which is caused by a great many factors."

"The latter describes a kind of spirit."

Perhaps due to an editing error, it seems that Mr. Sloth did not cut out the long gaps between conversations, leaving an awkward half-minute blank in the work.

The conversation abruptly ended.

Mr. Sloth seemed unsure how to respond.

Yang Dekang felt that a rift had appeared for the first time in this back-and-forth dialogue.

This topic cannot be smoothly glossed over. Because Gu Weijing expressed a very real emotion, as coarse and full of derogatory connotations as the word "Whore" he used.

It's not a more elegant, literary, neutral term—sex worker or body worker.

Instead, she was a prostitute.

For someone like Yang Dekang, it's easy to tell whether you're hiding something or wearing a mask.

This is a genuine expression from Gu Weijing.

Authentic expressions can often only be responded to through authentic expressions.

So they got stuck.

"Isn't that too harsh?" Mr. Sloth said. It was hard to guess in any sense that Mr. Sloth would say that others were too harsh.

Before opening the audio file, even if Yang Dekang had to guess a thousand times, he would find it hard to imagine that someone like Anna Elena, who likes to nitpick her words, would one day find others too aggressive.

Surprisingly, Mr. Sloth was the more amiable one in this conversation.

The roles have been reversed.

"Is it a little unfair to use such standards to judge a painter born in 1606? Everyone lives in a specific environment, and I think many of Rembrandt's choices in life were understandable. It does not prevent Rembrandt from his place in history, nor does it prevent him from being a great painter."

"of course."

"It is unfair to say that it is part of European life without considering the power of a person's choice itself. I think not everyone made the same choice as Rembrandt, becoming part of high society and a vine on the tree of money."

Gu Weijing said.

"and."

"I'm not actually talking about Rembrandt; to a large extent, I'm talking about myself. I could say Rembrandt was an ancient figure, a part of history. But I am not."

"My life is not a story that happened yesterday, but a story that is happening now. It is not in the past tense, but in the present continuous tense."

"Remember when I mentioned that Anna gave me a $4 dress at the Raffles Hotel?"

"I love it."

“Honestly, I love it so much,” Gu Weijing said. “To me, it’s far more than just a piece of clothing; it’s… a reflection of my personal values. The most ridiculous thing about this is that if I were someone who really knew about suits, then this kind of love might not be a big deal.”

"Pay for the designer's talent."

"Completely OK."

Gu Weijing nodded.

"The art market is a market that pays for talent. If we can accept collectors paying for a painter's talent, we must also accept collectors paying for a designer's talent."

“But… there’s always a paradox there—” “Are people paying for talent or for money? Where is the line between paying for talent and paying for money? If you can’t understand what’s good about a painting, what’s the difference to you between hanging a Picasso on the wall and hanging a hundred million dollars on the wall? Or is it that people choose to hang a Picasso on the wall precisely because they can’t usually hang a hundred million dollars on the wall?”

"Roscoe was in great pain and anger when faced with this problem."

"The reason for his distress was that a top hotel in New York at the time invited him to paint decorative paintings for the hotel, and the price of that order was about $250 million in today's terms."

“You’re in pain, you’re furious. Because… someone came along and placed a $200 million order with you. It sounds absurd, this person must be crazy.”

Gu Weijing said.

"And now I can certainly understand the source of that pain. Rothko would think, 'What? What am I doing? Why am I painting wallpapers for a bunch of people who don't even know a damn thing, just to brighten their mood for eating? Is this the meaning of art?'"

"on the other hand."

“This is an order worth more than $200 million... You can get $200 to $300 million just by painting some wallpaper. I believe that when Roscoe received this order, he also felt a strong sense of vanity somewhere inside him.”

"I was both within and without. You both find it incredibly boring and deeply fascinated by it."

“In the 1950s, Rothko would have needed $250 million to feel bewildered, but a few years ago, perhaps only one-sixtieth of that price would have been enough for me.”

"A bespoke, handcrafted suit."

"I felt like I was a completely different person when I put on that outfit. I felt like I was someone special! I felt like that outfit gave me a completely different sense of life. I felt like I was a real member of high society, a big shot."

“You wear cheap clothes, and my clothes are a hundred times more expensive than yours, so… I am a hundred times more high-class than you. And just a few days ago, I was over there thinking like a philosopher that this was the most boring thing in the world.”

"The most ridiculous thing about this is that I am not only Rothko, but also one of the people that Rothko despised the most."

"Roscoe believed that the New York elites didn't care at all what was hanging on the wall while they ate. They didn't know anything about art, and they couldn't even be bothered to look at it. For them, a painting worth $250 million was enough."

"Essentially, looking at money while eating has the same effect."

"I know almost nothing about the fashion industry. My knowledge of suits is limited to knowing that the bottom button is usually left undone. I know the different styles of shirt collars and jacket collars, whether or not to wear cufflinks, and how to style them. I know the different types of fabrics, their counts, the weaving techniques used, and the sewing techniques used..."

"I know absolutely nothing about it either."

"It wasn't until months later that I realized I had fastened the adjustable buckle at the back of my vest incorrectly. No wonder the suit always felt a bit tight on me; I thought that's what upper-class suits looked like," Gu Weijing chuckled.

"So... you think wearing that dress has the same effect as wearing $40,000?"

"Mr. Sloth asked."

"Correct."

"It was a fine garment, without a doubt, with top-quality fabric and exquisite workmanship. But on the other hand, I didn't really look at any of the places where one could appreciate the tailor's painstaking ingenuity, his talent, and his inspiration."

"I don't understand at all."

"All I know is $4. I'd love to hang $4 on my clothes so everyone who sees it knows. Is that any different from those people Rothko mocked?"

"You think this is your problem?"

"Yes."

“Perhaps you just like this dress. Maybe everyone has moments like that, a little bit of vanity. Doesn’t Ms. Elena ever wear some very expensive clothes?” Mr. Sloth asked.

"Having vanity and being dominated by vanity are two different concepts. Wearing expensive clothes and feeling that one's life value is defined by expensive clothes are two different concepts."

"Only those who want to be, only Cinderella, need a pair of glass slippers to define their lives. The Princess and the Pea is the Princess and the Pea; she is a princess wherever she goes."

"Do you think Miss Elena is the kind of delicate person who is like the Princess and the Pea?"

Mr. Sloth paused, then asked with amusement.

"No, what I mean is, Anna has a very peculiar sense of languor."

"Lazy?"

"In other words—'I-don't-fucking-care'. Freud said that there are all sorts of episodes in a person's personality, and this one, I call the 'I-don't-fucking-care' episode."

Gu Weijing said.

"I've been secretly playing a game."

“When I meet Anna, I try to guess how much her outfit is worth, and I never guess right.”

Is it expensive?

"Not entirely. Sometimes it can be very expensive; even if I had a $40,000 suit, that would be beyond my comprehension. But sometimes it can be very ordinary, ranging from $40 to $400,000... it's all there."

"I fucking don't care."

“Anna never cared about that. She only chose what she liked and wore whatever she wanted. As far as I remember, Anna had a watch that I saw her wearing on a ship in Singapore. There was an inscription on the leather strap of that watch.”

“I didn’t recognize it at the time. Later, after I lived in Germany for a long time, I realized that it must have been in German, and it must have been something like ‘Jaeger-LeCoultre is honored to present a gift to His Excellency the Count’.”

"I later learned that Antoine de Lacourt, the founder of Jaeger-LeCoultre, won a gold medal at the 1851 London World's Fair, and after returning to Switzerland, he specially presented this gift to the Hélène family."

"I don't know how much such a watch is worth, whether it's 20 or 200 million. But I do know that if I had such a watch, I would probably want the whole world to know about it. I would probably keep it in a safe, afraid of even the slightest scratch."

"But for Anna... it really was just a watch. She didn't value it much, nor did she throw it on the ground or stomp on it with her high heels to express any particular contempt."

“I remember it got wet in the sea, and Miss Elena took it off, shook it a couple of times, and tried to wind it up again.”

“It’s flooded,” she said, turning to me.

"That's true indifference."

(End of this chapter)