Rimbaud's girl

Vitaly is really convincing!

He couldn't help comparing Vitaly with Ursula: Ursula is 19 years old, pure and lovely, she may not have Vitaly's beauty, nor Vitaly's intelligence, she is inferior to Vita in everything Lily, but she has a comforting air about her, that kind of... He suddenly realized that Ursula was actually the most close-knit women of his age since he turned 18, so maybe it was more "Used", he was used to seeing her, so he thought it was a kind of man's liking for women.

After sending off Vitaly and Draai outside the cafe, watching the carriage drive away, he suddenly felt an indescribable sadness in his heart: he knew that the number of times they would meet was limited, and when he made the deal, After leaving France, it is likely that she will never be seen again.

When he thought that he would never have the chance to see this beautiful girl again, his heart suddenly felt empty, as if he had lost something.

He could no longer think of Ursula in London.

All I could think about was Vitaly, Vitaly, Vitaly.

He returned to the staff dormitory of Goupil Company in a daze. It was a very narrow room, except for a bed and necessary furniture, the room was extremely shabby.He thought of the girl's pretty face, her beautiful blue eyes, her charming smile.Ah, how beautiful she smiles!The blue eyes are curved, the corners of the mouth are curved, and the thin lips are pink and rosy, as delicate as roses.

He absently sketched a girl's side face on the paper, the simple lines were drawn naturally from the pencil.

He wanted to see her again, he didn't know why, he just wanted to see her.

Vincent van Gogh was not an official employee of Goupil in Paris, so he didn't have to go to work at 19 Boulevard Montmartre every day, but he couldn't see Vitaly every day, he could only write to her every day, Send her candy.

After sending pine nut candies for three days in a row, Vitaly wrote back, saying that although pine nut candies are delicious, they cannot be eaten every day.

So I gave chocolate instead.

On this day, Vitaly wrote back, saying that he had already bought the ticket and bought a first-class box, which could seat 6 people, and there were only 3 people in their party. He could go directly to the train station to find box 9 the morning after tomorrow.

He is eagerly looking forward to the day after tomorrow.

When Vincent arrived on the platform of the train station, he saw Mrs. Reval commanding two porters to carry the wooden box into the carriage. It was a wooden box that Goupil Company packed paintings for customers, and there was a stamp of Goupier Company on the outside of the wooden box. .

"Hello, Madame Reval." He rested his fingers on the brim of his hat. "Is M. Flaubert here?"

"Oh, there are sir and miss." Mrs. Reval pointed to a shop by the platform.

It was a bakery and candy store. Vincent entered the store, and Vitaly had already bought some croissants. Seeing him coming in, she waved to him, "You came just in time, hold it for me." The paper bag with the croissant was handed to him.

Vincent took the paper bag, "Hello, Miss Rimbaud. Hello, Mr. Flaubert."

Flaubert hadn't seen him yet, so he looked at Vitaly questioningly.

"This is Mr. Van Gogh, Vincent Van Gogh, he is an employee of Goupil Company. As I told you, someone will come back to the manor with us."

Flaubert suddenly said, "Hello, Mr. Van Gogh."

"We got up too early in the morning, so we bought some bread so that no one on the road would get hungry. Actually, the main reason is that I might be hungry." She smiled softly, "I also want to buy some candy. Look at this, isn't it pretty?" At the counter The glass bottles on the table are filled with colorful candies, some red and some green.At this time, there were already synthetic pigments, but they were only used in dyes. The clerk kept making sure that all the pigments he used were natural, such as red for roses, green for mint, purple for grapes and madder, yellow for carrots and citrus Wait, the colors are rich.

The basic ingredients of the candy are white sugar and maltose. Maltose is a production method from the Far East. Almond candy and pine nut sugar are made of maltose. They are sweet but not greasy, taste better and are more popular.In addition to marzipan and pine nut candies, this store also has walnut candies, peanut candies, rose candies, and mints. Vitaly bought a pack of rose candies and a pack of mints.

Vincent took the paper bag containing the candy again.

"Do you like candy?"

"me?"

"You are not very old, you are only more than one year older than Arthur, and he likes to eat sweets very much."

He smiled shyly, "I don't particularly like it."

"Don't you like snacks?"

"I don't like it very much."

"It's boring! Is it because your father said, you're a boy, you can't always eat snacks? There is no child who doesn't like snacks, and if you bring a lot of snacks to Wilhelmina and Cole for Christmas, they will love it !"

He laughed again: She guessed right.There are always endless snacks at home, which only appear in a few uncles' homes, and his family doesn't have any, so their brothers and sisters like to visit uncles' homes.Children are like this.Candies are actually quite expensive, and he only buys a little bit at Christmas to take home and share with his younger siblings.

Vitaly took Flaubert's arm and walked out of the candy store.

Vincent hurried to follow.

The train compartment is indeed very comfortable, and it is quite roomy for four people. There are two wooden boxes containing paintings beside the seats. One box is a painting sold by Goupil Company, which Vincent knows; Added some paintings.

Vitaly and Madame Reval sat opposite Flaubert, Vincent next to Flaubert.He had so much respect for M. Flaubert that he was a little reserved.

Vitaly was telling Mrs. Reval how to make maltose look good. Boil the maltose, add natural pigments to dye it, and knead it into long strips on the chopping board after it cools down. If you slice it, it becomes a colorful sliced ​​candy with a very beautiful color; if there is a thin wooden stick in the middle that is slightly thicker than a toothpick, it is a lollipop, which is especially suitable for children to eat in their hands.After she was ready to go back, she asked the cook to try and make some colorful sliced ​​candies, and kept them for the occasional visiting relatives' little guests.

After talking about how to make sugar, I told Vincent that we should stock up on a few paintings by modern painters when we have money. Degas’s oil paintings are only a few hundred francs a piece, gouache and watercolor paintings are cheaper, and Monet’s oil paintings are not expensive. , You can buy it for less than 1000 francs, which is really cheap.

Vincent could only smile: her concept of money was completely different from his, and she seemed completely ignorant of the distress of a person whose annual salary was only 450 francs.

Then I heard her talking about money, "Your annual salary is only 90 pounds, which is too little! Mrs. Reval's annual salary is 500 francs, which is higher than your salary. Her monthly salary is 40 francs, 480 francs a year." , I will give her another bonus of 20 francs at the end of the year. Does Goupil have a year-end bonus? No? Do you know how much profit you sell for a year? Does your job have a minimum sales? If the sales volume is not reached, can I only get the basic salary? Is there any commission if the sales volume is exceeded? Even if the purchasing power of the British pound exceeds the French franc, the annual salary of 90 pounds is still too low!"

Vincent couldn't quite understand some of the nouns she said, but he could probably understand the meaning. She was saying that he earned too little money.He answered her questions one by one. In the London branch, he has no commission to get, but if the monthly sales exceed a certain amount, the salesperson will have a small bonus, but this bonus is very difficult to get. Only big customers will do.

"It's too stingy!" Vitaly said immediately: "He doesn't give you enough commission, how can you serve the company better? This is the ugly face of the bourgeoisie!"

Vincent looked at her in surprise.

Flaubert seemed to be pampering the female student, without trying to hinder her at all.In his opinion, Vitaly's thinking is a bit sexually inclined, but it's just talking, don't worry that she will go to Paris to start a revolution.She has little interest in politics and thinks the current government is not -->>

It is the best ideal government in the world, but the status quo can only go like this.Paris has always been the birthplace of European revolution, and it is not surprising that she would be influenced by a certain theory.

She asked again: "Why do you want to be an art salesman? I thought you would want to be a priest, like your father."

"Pastor..." He smiled wryly, "My mother thinks that the pastor is too poor, and she hopes that I can become a rich man like Uncle Vincent. My uncle used to be a partner in Goupil's company and is still the majority shareholder now. He is not in good health and retired a few years ago."

Vitaly nodded understandingly, "Your mother is right. Do you like this business?"

"Some parts I like, some parts I don't like."

"Tell me." She was very interested.

"It's -- you know that art works are 'art' because they're 'beautiful', and this 'beauty' is supposed to be appreciated by everyone, but in reality, a lot of people are too stupid to understand."

"Oh!" Vitaly snorted, and then laughed, "That's because you have a high level of appreciation for 'beauty', but many people are ordinary people, rich ordinary people, for the sake of money, you should endure Take a moment. However, it also depends on whether the reward you get is enough for you to bear."

She thought for a while, "What does your mother mean, does she want you to accumulate more experience in this industry, and start-up funds, oh no, to open a store and open a gallery by yourself?"

Vincent was surprised by her again, "Yes. How do you know?"

"It's very simple. Your uncle is a very successful art dealer. Your family has the innate conditions to enter this industry. What you lack is your experience and a sum of money." She wondered why Vincent Van Gao did not take this easy and convenient path?What happened in the middle?She knows exactly what went wrong with Arthur Rimbaud. As for others, she doesn't remember very clearly. She only remembers that Van Gogh started to learn painting when he was very old, and later he had mental problems. Whether he died by suicide or homicide has not yet been determined.

It's a shame to think about it.

Maybe it's a matter of money?After all, if you want to start an art company by yourself, you need a lot of start-up capital, let alone tens of thousands of francs. According to his current annual salary of 90 pounds, he will have to save for decades without eating or drinking.Or could he turn to his rich uncle for a loan?But why didn't it work in the end?There are too many factors to consider, so don't think too much.

"In business, it must be better to be your own boss. How much money you make is all your own, and you can receive any kind of customers you want. Have you heard of it? The easiest way to earn money in the world It's women's and children's money, but men's money is more profitable, especially those nouveau riche who really want to show that they are a classy person."

Vincent thought of those rich and vulgar customers in Gupil's company. They were really willing to spend money, but the worst thing was that they were also very pretentious. Those clever boys in Gupil often got together to ridicule the vulgarity of these customers. Endurance grade.

That afternoon, Vincent van Gogh arrived at the Crosval Manor.

The manor is a three-story building, not too big. The guest room arranged for him by the housekeeper is on the third floor. The decoration is not gorgeous, but it is very comfortable.He only brought a duffel bag, packed a set of clothes and toiletries, put the duffel bag away and went downstairs.

The maid asked him to sit in the living room, "Miss will be down in a while."

Later, the maid brought warm tea and cookies.

He had lived in London for a few months and had grown used to drinking tea in the afternoon.

Vitaly changed into a dress and went downstairs after half an hour.

"It's not dinner time yet. My husband is not in good health. He's going to rest first. Let me show you around the house."

She held his slender arm and led him from the first floor to the third floor, seeing three corridors along the way, and going up and down stairs on both sides.

Vincent was a little dizzy: he had never had such intimate contact with a woman outside the Van Gogh family!Even Ursula, they never even shook hands—

A beautiful girl with thick dark brown hair and a nice rose fragrance.She is not tall, and he is only of medium build. Her fair face is right next to his shoulder, and he can see her as soon as he turns his face. Hearing her soft voice all the way, this is really wonderful!

In the winter afternoon, the sun slanted in from the glass window at the end of the corridor, the light moved on the wooden floor, and the girl's skirt rustled slightly.

It's been a wonderful afternoon.

Like many manors, the walls of the corridors and stairs are to hang portraits of ancestors and some art collections.Vincent noticed that many places where paintings should have been hung are now blank, and those paintings should be damaged paintings.

There were not many portraits, probably because Flaubert's ancestors were not prominent; there were, however, a few clearly immature paintings of Flaubert, Vitaly, servants, and several other young men. .He had seen Fran, and there were a few of them.

Pointing to another slender teenager, Vitaly said, "This is Arthur."

"Mr. Foran painted it?"

"Yes. What do you think of his drawing?"

"It's a bit immature, but it's already considered a very good work."

"He's still young, and he'll be a famous painter."

They returned to the living room on the first floor, "Except for the portraits of the ancestors of the Flaubert family that cannot be moved, all other collections are available for sale. You can choose the paintings that you think will sell well. Some paintings have the initials of the painters on them, and some do not. But I didn’t look very carefully, maybe there is something on the back of the canvas. You calculated the total price, telegraphed the Paris company, and asked them to transfer the money directly to Mr. Flaubert’s bank account in Paris. You have the right to do so. right?"

Vincent looked embarrassed, "I need to send the painting back to the Paris company."

Vitaly thought for a while, "Okay, I can accept that. I will definitely buy a lot of paintings, but I don't want to buy too many paintings in a short period of time. Let's do it," she let go of his hand Arm, sit down on the sofa, "You know I can go directly to Mr. Degas to buy paintings or order, including those painters he knows, I know what kind of paintings I want, but I'm not good at pricing, I want to use up Buy as many paintings as possible with as little money as possible, can you help me?"

Vincent replied without any hesitation: "Okay, I know what you mean, and I will help you."

She smiled softly, "Then what about your work? You are going back to London."

He froze for a moment: Yes, what about work?

"Again, will Goupil of London give you a raise after Christmas? How much? I think it should be at least £120? If you don't have £120, it's really boring!"

The author has something to say: *Vincent van Gogh was the actual eldest son, he had an older brother also named Vincent, who died at birth, Vincent was a common name in the Van Gogh family.Below Van Gogh are the eldest sister Anna, the eldest brother Theo, the second sister Elizabeth, the younger sister Wilhelmina, and the younger brother Cole.He had the best relationship with Theo, and Theo always supported him to learn painting. The dispute between the two was not the traditional Impressionism in Van Gogh. , and failed to sell more Van Goghs.

*Owen Stone's "Van Gogh Biography" stated that Van Gogh's monthly salary in 1874 was 5 pounds, and his annual salary was only 60 pounds, not including room and board. In "Jane Eyre", Jane Eyre's annual salary as a tutor is 30 pounds, but board and lodging is included. In comparison, Jane Eyre's actual annual salary must be more than 60 pounds.

Johanna, wife of Theo (Theo Theo) in "Dear Theo", said that Van Gogh earned £90 a year in Goupil, London. This figure should be very credible.net, net,,...: