Almighty painter

Chapter 860: Dialogue with Anna

Alexander listened to all this with horror.

Miss Elena was just talking to Gu Weijing, and her whip hadn't really hit Alexander yet. Even so, it was scary enough, wasn't it?

For the first time in the conversation, the female host no longer acted as the facilitator of the conversation.

She expressed her views so clearly and directly, which were completely different from Alexander's.

Anna really hasn't targeted him yet.

She and Gu Weijing played mixed-gender "tennis" back and forth, and they discussed Impressionism, "Old Cathedral in a Thunderstorm", Van Gogh, Calla, Camille and Monet.

Alexander?

How could he be qualified to be in this topic?

He was just a bug that happened to be attached to a tennis ball that was traveling at over 160 miles per hour.

An ant, or a fruit fly.

"I believe Monet was a great man. I believe he loved Camille deeply. The imperfections in life are still a special way of expressing their love and a special proof."

"According to what you said, if Monet was a rich man, he wouldn't have to face all this." Anna said, "He wouldn't have to face the choice of buying paint or bread, and he wouldn't have to face the choice of whether to stick to his artistic dream and let his family endure the cold or hunger. No, he didn't need to do any of that. He could also run a trading company, earn a hundred times more than the average person in Paris, and treat painting as a hobby for what his father called... a dandy boy."

"While other gentlemen were playing Whitley cards at the club or mowing the garden, I was painting in my backyard at home—"

Miss Elena looked at Gu Weijing.

"Perhaps history could have unfolded in a different way... Monet and Camille still got together, still loved each other, and they still got married and had children. It's just that their professions were slightly different. Monet was the young master of a port trading company and jeweler, and Camille was the daughter of a high-end silk merchant in Paris. The two were well-matched and got together under the matchmaking of their parents. Camille's parents were probably satisfied. Monet's father? Maybe he felt that the other party was not the best choice for his son. But he probably thought it was okay."

"In this way, Monet would never lack money to buy paint or keep warm, and Camille would never lack a decent and comfortable life. With better medical conditions, perhaps she would never have contracted tuberculosis. Monet achieved financial freedom half a lifetime earlier, and bought his own small estate sixty years ago. According to his own wishes, he built an ancient bridge in the East over the pond."

"Then perhaps when future scholars examine this period of history, they will not be able to find such a moving force. I think this is very cruel... They turned great people into ordinary people—"

"An ordinary but happy couple."

Gu Weijing answered aloud.

Gu Weijing was still not used to Anna's answer.

In a sense, Miss Elena said it very well. She filled in a lot of the feelings that Gu Weijing wanted to say but couldn't express well.

In another sense.

He also felt that Miss Anna's tone when commenting on Monet always carried the condescending imagination of ordinary life, or in other words, the feeling of a condescending critic commenting on paintings in an art gallery.

Literature is like looking at a mountain; one does not like flatness.

The same is true for works of art.

What attracts attention are often those fierce things, the warrior who cut off Medusa's head, the man who stuck his fingers into the savior's belly, the boy who was pierced by the general's scissor feathers...

of course.

These intense works are compelling in their own way.

But is the world outside the art museum really just mediocre?

Miss Elena's words revealed her admiration for the powerful and unique people, those "oddballs". On the other hand, she seemed to reveal her disgust for ordinary life.

She is too powerful, too graceful, and too generous.

The world was a huge Roman Colosseum, and the Irene family was the purple-robed nobles in the VIP box. She would cheer for those who bravely fought the lions and throw handfuls of gold coins, as if only such courage, strength, and roar could please the gods and represent transcendence beyond the mortal body.

Only in this way can a person stand out from the mediocre world and achieve greatness.

But has she ever seen the true face of the mundane world? Can she understand how heavy the pressure of the world is?
To put it more simply.

She understood, she knew, she knew what an ordinary painter needed to go through at that time.

Gu Weijing once used Miss Irena's abstract painting as the queen in literary works in his illustrations, which reflected his inner thoughts. On the one hand, Gu Weijing felt that Anna was very powerful, but on the other hand, what kind of person is the queen? Cleopatra? Yes, she is the Egyptian queen... She grew up with her body covered in glittering gold and jade powder and wrapped in a thick velvet brocade blanket.

Such people are exquisite.

Miss Elena said she could feel a pea outside a thousand layers of blankets, and Gu Weijing believed it.

But can someone like her really understand what the life of ordinary people is like?

Has she ever walked out of the manor and witnessed the balloon seller outside the train station like him, like countless ordinary people? Has she ever witnessed a person who had to stand in the scorching sun in the humid air of nearly 40 degrees in Southeast Asia and sell a full million balloons in exchange for a lunch in the super luxurious hotel next door?
Anna's interpretation of the relationship between Monet and Camille was just as Gu Weijing hoped, but because it came out of Anna's mouth, it no longer sounded like what Gu Weijing hoped.

She looked as if she was saying...

Living an ordinary and happy life is bad, vulgar and boring.

Mediocrity means a waste of life.

Monet is a true hero who bravely embraces pain, bravely resists fate, and bravely makes achievements that shock the world.

This is good.

Gu Weijing didn’t know whether this logic was right or wrong, but it was too strong and too overbearing, just like the tone and aura of the female host when she spoke, overbearing and leaving no room for others to breathe.

Gu Weijing always has some admiration for Van Gogh and many brave painters in his heart.

But what about her?
Gu Weijing always felt that Anna did not have a true understanding of the suffering in the world and the pain they endured.

She always speaks well, she is an outstanding debater, what corrections to life, what brave choices - but women have never understood what the true constraints of fate are.

Does she understand that for ordinary people - even if they just live an ordinary life that she doesn't like, is not interesting at all, and has no "power to touch people's hearts", it requires all their strength and courage?
“There is only one kind of heroism in the world, and that is to love life after recognizing its true nature.”

It is especially easy for people who don't understand the true nature of life to talk about love and understanding.

After all, it is just something like Ye Gong’s love for dragons.

"Really? I think that's a good idea." Gu Weijing smiled.

He looked at Anna's face. If that really happened, Monet and Camille lived happily together until they were 100 years old. The world would lose a great painter, but gain a pair of ordinary and happy people.

Gu Weijing felt that this was a very gentle story.

But the woman felt that the story suddenly lost all its beauty.

"This is our difference." Gu Weijing told the other party with his eyes, "Hi, respected Miss Elena, this is the difference between us."

Anna gave him an annoyed eye roll in response.

"I'm sorry, I don't think that kind of life is happy, and I don't think that kind of life is what they want at all."

"Absolutely not," said Anna.

"Without this painful realization, Monet would no longer be Monet. Similarly, he would lose what attracted Camille... With the courage to embrace fate like a moth to a flame, he left everything behind and walked towards fate... Not knowing whether he would be kicked out of his home by the landlord seven times in one year, or whether he would have a private estate after he became successful in the future."

"The courage to choose is the charm of art. This is what you said, and this is also the greatness of Monet." The woman said bluntly.

"But greatness is not an excuse for everything, nor is poverty." Gu Weijing said immediately, "Even in such a poor state, Camille still tried her best to fulfill her duties as a mother and wife and shouldered the responsibility of the family, while Monet was immersed in his own artistic creation. Perhaps... there was indeed an element of family absence here."

"I believe that love exists. But you can't call everything love, and fill all the pain with the word 'love'. Just saying that Monet loves her may be very unfair to what Camille has been through."

The audience watched the debate on the stage in shock.

Many people who didn't understand what was going on didn't understand. Wasn't Anna speaking for Gu Weijing? Why did these two people start arguing with each other? Gu Weijing was simply playing the role that Alexander had just played.

Anna spoke.

Alexander was depressed.

Gu Weijing, on the other hand, went all out.

As a child who was abandoned.

Gu Weijing actually attaches great importance to family responsibility.

His father just abandoned him and went to apply for a job at a French bank. Gu Weijing seemed to have a natural PTSD about this.

"Not everyone will make a similar choice as Monet. When my grandfather Gu Tongxiang was young, he had the opportunity to develop in a place where the art industry was more developed. For the sake of his family, he gave up such an opportunity and dream. He did not choose an unknown fate like a moth to a flame. This also shows the courage to make a choice. He was just a small vendor selling paintings by the river until he was 60 years old, but to me, he was a truly brave man, and he was also a truly great man. He did not leave the pain to his family, but only to himself."

"No. If you understand everything with pain, it's very unfair to Monet himself." Anna has a different opinion. "You think he left his pain to his family to a certain extent, but I think it should be said that Monet chose to be faithful to art. And Camille, the woman who worked as a model in a public studio, also chose to be faithful to art. Taking on family responsibilities is her way of expressing her devotion. Only in this way can they be two souls close to each other, and Monet is also bearing the pain that belongs to Monet."

"Inflicting pain and bearing pain are two completely different things."

Miss Elena said.

“Poverty may not be an excuse, but in your own words, it means helplessness.”

"Monet took the initiative to choose a more difficult and extraordinary path. He could have lived a comfortable life, but he didn't. You have to understand this. Therefore, I personally think that when we evaluate his choices when he faced poverty later, we should be more tolerant and understanding, rather than harsh."

She looked straight into Gu Weijing's eyes.

Gu Weijing hesitated for a moment, shook his head gently, and said nothing more.

He disagrees with some things.

But the second half of the woman's words still touched Gu Weijing.

"Mr. Alexander, when I said I wanted to answer you, I meant to point out that Monet did not have Monet's problems. However, a person gave up a comfortable life and chose a more difficult path, and made various choices for this, which needs to be paid attention to."

"You said Camille eloped for Monet, yes, but Monet also eloped for Camille, and these two may be equally important."

"You said that when Camille was seriously ill, Monet lived with his second wife Alice. Yes, that is true. However, objectively, Alice's husband, Ernes, Monet's original sponsor, suddenly went bankrupt. They were homeless and had to go to Monet, whose financial situation had just improved. This should also be taken into consideration. In fact, it was not until many years after Camille's death, nearly ten years later, that Monet finally chose to marry Alice. The different time points during this period should also be noted."

"It would be very, very unfair to say that Monet was a ruthless, abusive husband who exploited his wife without considering these factors."

……

One by one, one by one.

He wanted an answer, so Miss Irena gave him the answer.

"Uh."

Alexander kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, just like a lawyer who faced an embarrassing situation in court and was discovered to have submitted false evidence.

"If you ask me."

"About Monet." Anna glanced at Alexander. "For my part, I believe Monet was a husband who loved his wife. I don't have any solid evidence. Most of the letters left by male oil painters in the 1910th century were always relatively implicit. But I once read a record that in the s, before the outbreak of World War I, a critic visited him and mentioned that Monet stared at the pond for a long time, muttering to himself. This reminded me of a letter from Monet that I read in my early years. In the letter, he wrote..."

Gu Weijing's fingers moved slightly.

He didn't say anything, but listened quietly to Miss Elena reading out the letter that had also touched him, and his eyes gradually softened.

He and Anna could not agree on many points of view, but in this letter, they reached the same destination through different paths.

A reconciliation.

"As for the painting 'Old Church in a Thunderstorm'."

Anna said again.

"I have another explanation. I believe that unequal power relations do exist, but it is someone else who is oppressing Carol."

She looked at Gu Weijing.

Speak with your eyes.

Hey, Mr. Gu, you said I don't know what pressure is. You are wrong about that.

No.

I understand, at least, she believes Kara should understand.