Rimbaud's girl

Vitaly's reply was not long, but it was written very respectfully. After all, Hugo is an academician and a little overlord in the French literary world, not Tyrannosaurus rex.

Flaubert also respected Hugo very much, and quickly wrote the letter and sent it out.

Hugo wrote back to Vitaly alone, thinking that her writing style is still immature, but she already has the keen intuition of a writer, so she is a good Miaomiao; Write more works and make more money.

Literary dream is true, but after all, it needs to be rewarded, either fame or profit. Mr. Hugo has long wanted to understand this issue.

He did not directly participate in this debate, but skillfully wrote a short article commenting on "A Season in Hell" in a literary magazine, saying that Arthur Rimbaud will be the best young French poet in the past 20 years, A "A Season in Hell" is enough to prove his talent, and the upcoming "Color Picture" will make the name "Rimbaud" remain in the history of French poetry.

The words used by the boss are implicit, and he flattered Rimbaud without making people think that he is exaggerating. The effect is very good and obvious. After all, Hugo rarely supports such a young junior.Many people went to nearby bookstores to order "Coloring Books", and people kept asking when "Parisian Dreams" would be released as a booklet.

The literary debate was in full swing, and Arthur wrote an article from Oxford and sent it back to France to help his sister fight.His documentary report on the life of the emperor's family in England was published in "Le Figaro" in early March.

The domestic masses are indeed very interested in the life of the royal family in exile. No matter what era, the "royal family/royal family" is an eye-catching group.The Bonaparte family has many sympathizers in France, as well as many old nobles who want to restore the empire. They are also eager to know the current situation of the crown prince.

In mid-March, "Colorful Pictures" was officially released, and a small group of poets and writers agreed that its level surpassed "A Season in Hell".It is probably because the passionate words of the teenagers have become a little calmer in "Colorful Picture", not so sharp, and the difficulty has also been slightly reduced, and the words are more elegant.

The controversy of "Paris Dream" still has debate articles in several newspapers from time to time, and a single volume advertisement has been launched, saying that it will be sold in bookstores after the full text is serialized, and the time is scheduled for the end of May.

The Rimbaud brothers and sisters were the most famous rising stars in the literary and art circles in Paris in the first half of 1875. Arthur Rimbaud was able to interview the queen and the crown prince in London, and the documentary reports he wrote were objective and cautious. The French people were very interested in the brothers and sisters. Literary and art salons of all sizes in Paris were talking about the siblings, and they made a splash.

In addition, another fashion and entertainment newspaper claimed that Vitaly Rimbaud met the Crown Prince in London and was invited to visit the Crown Prince's villa (in fact, he went with many people), and said that the Queen liked the girls of Rimbaud's family very much (In fact, Queen Eugenie has never met Vitaly), it is very likely that she will be given the title of baroness (this is absolutely impossible), and maybe Vitaly Rimbaud will become the crown prince in the future.

Vitaly did not expect that such unreliable gossip and gossip would become more and more enthusiastic, directly overshadowing the discussion of "Parisian Dream".People are keen to discuss whether she will become a commoner princess like Cinderella. After all, if Eugene can't marry an English princess, he'd better marry a French girl.

So in the final analysis, why does the story of Cinderella have versions in various countries? It is really a cool story of "flying on a branch to become a phoenix".

Of course, some people immediately ridiculed that it was impossible for Vitaly to want to be the wife of the crown prince. The crown prince has a noble status, and Miss Rimbaud is just a girl from the slums, and she cannot afford to be high.

Vitaly felt that the direction of the wind was wrong, and immediately decided to serialize another one in the "Shangri-La" newspaper to divert the hot spot.

The year 1874 for Vincent van Gogh was not all that great.

Since being rejected by Ursula, he has been devastated all day long, complaining about himself.In the previous 20 years, he was considered to be smooth sailing, loved by his parents, and very smart himself. He always felt that he had everything in the world. His family was from an ordinary family, but it was not so bad that he couldn’t eat enough or wear warm clothes. All six children could go to school. , without relying on the support from uncles and uncles, life is much better than that of ordinary families.

One of his uncles was a rear admiral, another was a painter, and another uncle was a tax official. Uncle Vincent was an art dealer. Uncle Corlius was an art shop owner. Speaking of which, the priest Van Gogh He is considered to be the poorest of the brothers. It is reflected in the family, that is, the eldest son must leave the family early to become an apprentice, but for Vincent, it just happened to cultivate his artistic taste and accomplishment.

He is still an ordinary young man now, thinking about simple and ordinary things, he just wants to find a girl he likes to marry and earn some money to support his wife and children.He doesn't have any great ambitions yet, since his courtship failed, he only wants to make money.

He was vaguely aware that Úrsula might accept his love if she had money.

Then he thought of Vitaly sadly: If he had money, maybe Vitaly would pay more attention to him?

He wasted a few months in London, not in the mood to work, his performance dropped sharply, and his mood was very bad; in June, Uncle Vincent transferred him to Paris, which was exactly what he needed: in France, he could leave Vitaly came closer.

In Paris, his work took a turn for the better: Vitaly asked him to help find suitable paintings and strongly encouraged him to start his own business. Three months later, Vincent unexpectedly resigned from Goupil.

Pastor Van Gogh was very anxious when he heard the news, so he made a special trip to Paris to have a good talk with his eldest son.

Vincent is not good at persuading others, and the father and son broke up unhappy.

After starting to work alone, Vincent felt: not bad!

In the beginning, he had only one client, Vitaly. Later, through Vitaly's introduction, he took Degas's business from Goupil's company and helped Degas buy and sell paintings.Especially in 1874, the emerging "Impressionist" painters held the first "Impressionist Painting Exhibition". Vitaly and Foran took him to participate in this exhibition from beginning to end, and met a group of "Impressionist" painters.

The rise of Impressionism is inseparable from an innovation in the art world.If the previous painters painted outdoors, they usually faced the problem that they had to make a draft outdoors, and had to go back indoors for coloring, because it usually took a week or even a month to complete an oil painting, and several months for large-scale paintings. It is a common thing, and the paint cannot be portable outside.This led to the dark color of most of the previous painters' landscape paintings, because the light at that time could not be reproduced after they were brought back indoors.

The British invented metal tube pigments more than 20 years ago. Since then, painters can easily carry pigments to paint outdoors. Almost all painters in Europe are using metal tube pigments; the appearance of metal tube pigments reduces the price of pigments, so this It is also one of the reasons for the increase in the number of painters in Europe since the mid-19th century.

The paintings of Impressionists generally have more realistic light and shade. Manet, Monet, and Degas all prefer light and dark contrasts. Cézanne used to love black and gray, but now he is gradually moving closer to Impressionism, and his paintings are much brighter.

There is also the newly emerged principle of color ratio. Impressionist painters used colors more boldly and more innovatively, and they would constantly try different color combinations.

Throughout October, Vitaly was busy with the illustration exhibition. Vincent went to London with her, and he went to Mrs. Royle's house again when he found time. Vitaly didn't know that he went to see Ursula again. All he knew was that he had been in a bad mood since he left London.

After that, Vincent resolutely left England again and vowed never to go back.

From then on, he began to study the basics of painting systematically.

The first thing to face is the basic training of drawing sketches.He is too old, and he officially started his "enlightenment" at the age of 21. He often faces the problem of "knowing how to draw, but not listening to his hands". This is a problem of proficiency.He spends all his time outside of work honing his basic skills, just painting hard, but he has a stubbornness to get things done. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it is not necessarily a good thing.

It was not too difficult to paint geometric plaster figures or even still lifes, but soon he faced a major problem: if he was painting the human body, he always had problems with the proportions.

A painter needs to copy the human body, and needs to understand a certain knowledge of human anatomy, but he does not have this knowledge.

To copy the human body, you need to hire a model. The cost of hiring a model alone is relatively expensive for him. After all, his business is not too big, just to maintain his basic life in Paris. He also needs to buy drawing paper, paints, brushes, and charcoal. Pens, pencils, etc.

Although it was Vitaly who suggested him to learn painting at the beginning, if he was not interested in painting, he would not have started learning at all.

He briefly returned to his home in Holland for Christmas, and returned to Paris after only 10 days.

The newspapers began to buzz about the scandal between Vitaly and Crown Prince Eugene, and Vincent was stunned.

He knew that a beautiful girl would have an advantage, but the crown prince - that was something he hadn't even thought about.

He didn't see Vitaly often at Crosswald, and usually she would write to him, explaining whose painting she wanted this time.Over the past six months, she has bought many paintings by Impressionist painters.

So taking the opportunity of giving her a painting, Vincent went to Crosswa Manor again.

In the early spring in western France, there were sparse wild flowers on the field. Vitaly set up an easel on the lawn behind the manor, painting the distant woods and sky.

Gouache, the color is very elegant.

Vincent walked up to her, carefully keeping a cane's distance from her.

"Miss Rimbaud."

Vitaly turned to look at him, "Hello, Vincent." Turning back, "Aren't you used to calling me by my name?"

He smiled lightly, "Would you like to see the paintings I brought today?"

"Wait until I'm done. What about you? How are you learning?"

"not bad."

"If there is any problem you can't solve, tell me, and I will find a way."

"You...you are very kind to me. I earn enough money from you to live on. I can't expect more."

"You're so boring! Look at Fulan, he never said sorry. If he has no money to eat, he will beg me pitifully to take him to a restaurant to eat something delicious."

Vincent smiled shyly: He couldn't imitate Follan's "Paris urchin".Fu Lan's temperament can be said to be very lively, and he can get along well anywhere.

Vitaly has a very good personality, she doesn't seem to worry about any problems, she is not afraid, and she can always solve them calmly.On the other hand, he himself...he is a bit bored, and Vitaly should prefer the lively Forlan, and Oran, who is gentle and capable of handling affairs.So, people with good character always get ahead, that's right, right?

He had no doubt that Vitaly would become a famous writer in the future, and even a famous painter, as long as she kept painting.In the future, she will marry Master Oran, and then she will have a beautiful life that others dream of; in the future, she will give birth to Oran's child...their child.

He felt sad for a while.

And he is nothing compared to Oran.

He has no money, no fame, no status, no way to help her.What can he do for her?He sighed in distress.

He knows a little bit that he has to work hard, to make money, or to be famous, but none of them can be achieved in a short period of time, so he always has a kind of panic that he can't keep his feet on the ground.

He was vaguely aware that he would give anything to get her.But his problem is that he has nothing to "give".

He was hopeful, but also depressed.

She put away her brushes and paints before she finished painting.

Vincent helped her hold the easel, and the two walked back to the main house.

"How long will you stay this time?" She asked briskly.

"Two days."

"Take some books back to read."

He nodded, "I brought the book I borrowed last time and put it back in the library."

He likes to read, and he reads everything, including Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, philosophy, and history.There are many good books in Flaubert's library. When he thinks that Vitaly has read those books, and the pages he turned have been turned under her small and delicate fingers, he feels very happy. up.

In his mind, Vitaly is the goddess of Artemis on Mount Olympus.

Vitaly was looking at the dozen or so paintings he had brought.She bought oil paintings, watercolors, gouache, and color powder, as well as sketches, but she didn't buy many, and sketches were not expensive, and sometimes those painters would even give him free gifts.She will first pick out the paintings that are suitable for the manor, and then discuss with him where to hang them.Other paintings are placed separately.

He now understood that she not only bought paintings for Flaubert, but also for herself. She used her savings, the living expenses given by Flaubert, Arthur’s manuscript fees, and her own manuscript fees to buy paintings, investing a lot. It seems certain that the paintings will appreciate in value in the future.Oran also gave her money to buy paintings. Last month, Oran sent someone to take a batch of paintings back to England.

When I think of the paintings he carefully selected and bought for her hanging in their home in the future, I think it's a bit ironic.He buys high-quality paintings for her, saves money for her, and bargains with the painter. As long as he thinks that he is doing something for her, he has endless energy and can run as far as he wants.

what!Vitaly!While he was moved by his love, he also knew that she would not like him.

She didn't seem to notice, telling him where this painting should be, and where it would be best to put that painting.

Except for a few portraits of Flaubert's ancestors in the manor, almost all other paintings have been replaced.Seeing that the paintings in the manor are getting richer day by day, and the walls are hung with bright and full paintings, the whole house feels more and more "popular".

He likes Crosswale Manor because there are girls he likes here.

He told her what made him feel good about this painting, and he would not buy a painting that was not good enough.Vitaly believed in his vision, which made him feel that he still had some advantages.He thought that it would not be impossible to live like this for ten or eight years. Vitaly stayed in the manor all the time, and he helped her buy paintings all the time, so he could see her all the time.

What a simple and humble wish!

Flaubert was ill and did not come downstairs for dinner.

Vitaly only ate with Flaubert for a long time, and she paid attention to "eating without talking", and seldom talked at the table; when Flaubert was away, she did not talk to Vincent.

But Vincent couldn't hold back, and said, "I read in the newspaper...it said you and Crown Prince Eugene."

"Huh?" She sat across from him and looked up at him.

"The Crown Prince is handsome," he said, in as understated a tone as possible.

"You don't take it seriously, do you?" She widened her eyes, "You don't seem like someone who would believe in such shadowless things."

"Many people believe that Mr. Degas also said that if you get engaged to the crown prince, he will become your portrait artist, and he will pay more."

"He said that to everyone." Vitaly said indifferently: "He has gone bankrupt in order to help his brother pay off his debts, so he has to work hard to make money."

Vincent then sighed.Edgar Degas's younger brother failed to invest and was heavily in debt. As the eldest brother, Degas had to bear his younger brother's debts.He sold most of the paintings of senior painters he had collected before, borrowed another sum of money, and paid off the debt smoothly, but he had no cash left. He had to work hard to pay off the debt and maintain the previous standard of living. Can't really be down and out.

Vitaly was so calm, he couldn't see anything different about her.But...that was the crown prince, and Vitaly might be charmed by the title and good looks of the crown prince.Whether it's Young Master Oran or Crown Prince Euren, they are much better than him... they are also very handsome.

Vitaly liked handsome men.Her own brother Arthur was very beautiful, and Fran was handsome, and many of the young men she knew were of good looks, talent, or status.

He became depressed again, not knowing what to say or what to do.

The next day, Mrs. Commanville, Flaubert's niece, came.

Pale-faced, she went upstairs to see her uncle, and half an hour later the housekeeper came to ask Vitaly to see the master.

Flaubert sat on the edge of the bed in his night-gown; Madame Commanville sat on his lap on the rug, sobbing silently.

Vitaly was extremely surprised: What's going on in this situation?She is divorcing her husband?

During this time, Flaubert was in poor health and had been ill. He said it was a relapse of an old illness. His servant Paco refused to tell her what kind of illness Flaubert had. He only said that it was an illness many years ago and had not been cured.

Flaubert's expression was already bad, and now it was even worse. He asked in a low voice, "How much money do you have at home now? The money in the bank account, plus cash."

"There are more than 7 francs in the bank, and less than 5000 francs in cash." Vitaly is very concerned about the amount of money, and doesn't need to go back to look at the ledger.

"Go get the checkbook."

Vitaly opened the desk drawer in his bedroom, took out the checkbook, brought the ink bottle and pen, and handed them to him.

Flaubert wrote a check and handed it to his niece, "This is all my money, take it."

Mrs. Conmanville had a look of pain and despair, "Uncle——"

"It's not easy to sell the manor at the moment, so we can only wait and see."

Vitaly was stunned, "Sir! Why did you sell the manor?!"

Flaubert suddenly coughed violently.

Mrs. Conmanville stood up and patted him on the back.

Vitaly poured a glass of water and handed it to Flaubert.

Mrs. Conmanville took the glass and gave him a few sips of water.

"Mr. Commanville is bankrupt?" Vitaly asked.

You don't have to be a great detective to deduce this.

Mrs. Conmanville nodded with shame on her face.

"How much do you owe?"

"30 million...38 million!"

Vitaly was taken aback: she had never seen so much money!Even Little Degas didn't owe so much money!Little Degas also failed to invest. Conmanville has been engaged in investment business. It seems that it is futures or stocks. She has not paid attention to it.

Flaubert should give her a round number, they still have a gap of 31 francs, and the couple should still have tens of thousands of francs, but they still have to borrow 25 to 30 francs.Flaubert's elder brother is a doctor and his family is well-off, so he should be able to borrow tens of thousands, but it is unlikely that there will be as much as 7.Flaubert also had three older sisters, but the relationship between the aunts and Mrs. Conmanville was not very close. If the three families could borrow 3, they would be considered very close.

Flaubert took pity on this niece who lost her mother since childhood, and it seemed that she would really sell the manor to help her, oh no, to help her husband pay off the debts.

Vitaly took an unusual path again. She asked, "Can't I divorce Conmanville? After the divorce, those are all his debts."

Mrs. Conmanville was taken aback, then shook her head, "It's not such a simple matter."

"The manor cannot be sold. If you sell the manor, where will you live, sir? If you and your children have no place to live, you can go back to the manor. This is the property of the Flaubert family, so don't sell it easily." Selling ancestral property is only for prodigals. matter.

Flaubert smiled wryly, "Vitale, I know you have good intentions, for me... But, I can't watch Caroline be cornered. The manor is sold, we can go to Paris."

The author has something to say: * Degas’ younger brother went bankrupt, and Degas helped him pay off his debts; Flaubert’s niece and son-in-law went bankrupt, and Flaubert’s previous investments were all in vain. Later, he sold the manor and moved to live in Paris.Both are real events.

*Some people say that the heroine is too Mary Sue, even Van Gogh loves her.But if you think about it, Vincent Van Gogh at this time was just an ordinary 21-year-old young man who didn’t know what he wanted to do in the future. He had an ordinary family background, no money, and an ordinary appearance. Thinking too high.It was later that he started to learn painting, and he fell into self-denial because he had not sold paintings for a long time. No matter how famous he was, he was only after his death. Before his death, he was a poor, silent man with some mental problems. Beautiful girls feel ashamed.What I wrote is super reasonable.