Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 155: Summer Valley (1)

Chapter 155 Summer Valley (1)

I’m not denying the act of doing something for myself or for a specific group.

Art is a personal act from birth, and there is no work that can satisfy everyone.

But if I want to show my work to someone, I have to at least build a bridge between them and the work.

Whether it’s a sturdy iron bridge or a stepping stone.

It’s foolish to hope that someone will swim over without any effort.

If the audience comes, the rest is up to the artist. I can’t have a good exhibition with a cynical attitude.

“Hoon-ah.”

A familiar voice called me.

It was Kim Ji-woo.

I didn’t expect her to come so soon, since she was still in the middle of a press conference.

“Where’s your grandfather?”

“I just checked what I had to sort out and came. It’s hard to get a solo interview anyway.”

Well, there were so many people gathered that it would be impossible to ask enough questions.

“Are you okay?”

I asked Cha Si-hyun.

“Yeah. I want to look around.”

“Okay. I’ll contact you.”

I added that it would take about 30 minutes and went to find the meeting room of the Seoul Art Museum with Kim Ji-woo.

She was always energetic, but she looked even brighter today.

“Did something good happen?”

“Of course. It’s Go Soo-yeol’s solo exhibition.”

I felt happy as well, just by the fact that my grandfather had an exhibition.

She must like my grandfather’s works, but from what I’ve seen, she loves art in general.

She must be glad that the art exhibition is getting a lot of attention.

“And I think I’ll get an incentive.”

“Incentive?”

I knew it was a bonus.

My mother and father were very happy when they got a bonus.

I remember watching them with a bottle in my mouth as they bought a game console and golf clubs.

“Yeah. I get it based on the number of article views.”

“…Is it because of the photo yesterday?”

Yehwa was a small magazine company.

Kim Ji-woo’s articles that she posted through the portal site were the ones that got the most views, and the recent one was my article.

“Ah. Haha.”

Kim Ji-woo laughed awkwardly.

“Sigh.”

Yeah.

Since my grandfather’s works made it irreversible, it was a meaningless resistance.

I accepted it.

It was embarrassing and awkward, but if they thought I was cute, there must be a way to use it.

I think I have a cute face too.

“What are you going to do with the money you earn?”

“I’m going to travel with the summer vacation money and the savings.”

“That’s nice.”

“Right. I’m going to visit places I’ve never been to. First, Vienna.”

“Austria?”

She nodded vigorously when I mentioned the familiar name.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, is synonymous with music.

Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and others who were already legends when I lived as Vincent, worked there.

“I didn’t know you liked music.”

“Well… I like it, but that’s not why I’m going.”

“Then why?”

“Of course, to see the paintings.”

I wondered who was the famous painter from Austria, but I couldn’t think of anyone.

“What kind of paintings?”

“Klimt.”

“Klimt?”

“Yeah. Gustav Klimt. Don’t you know?”

“No.”

Kim Ji-woo widened her eyes and was surprised. I was rather embarrassed by her reaction that she didn’t expect it.

“I don’t know.”

“What? How can you not know Klimt?”

Kim Ji-woo searched for Gustav Klimt and showed me a photo. A man with more beard than hair was sitting.

He was born in 1862, the same year as me.

“Who is he?”

“He’s someone who influenced the most painters, but left no trace in anyone’s paintings.”

“What does that mean?”

“Usually, when a great master appears, other artists’ works also show his traces.”

That’s how a school of art is formed.

“But Klimt, how should I put it. He made it impossible to draw like him anymore. He influenced them in that sense, but he left no trace.”

“I don’t understand. If it’s a good painting, you can try to imitate it, right?”

I couldn’t easily understand it, thinking of how many people had captured their light on canvas after Monet and Manet.

“Is it too amazing? No. Is it because his personality is too strong? He’s that kind of painter.”

From Kim Ji-woo’s explanation, he sounded like a remarkable person.

I should have known him, even though I was ignorant of the world because I lived in the countryside.

But considering that I was only in my twenties when I died, it’s not too unreasonable.

“Do you have any works to recommend?”

“There are so many. First of all, The Kiss is the most famous. Judith is also good. He also painted sunflowers, and it’s fun to compare them with Van Gogh.”

“Sunflowers? What are they like?”

“Wait a minute. I’m supposed to ask the questions, not you.”

Kim Ji-woo lowered her head as she was interested. She took out a recorder and a notebook and got ready.

I’ll have to look up Gustav Klimt later.

“First of all, you’re participating in the French National Art Salon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Henri Matisse invited you to a special exhibition, but you refused.”

“That’s right.”

“How is it going?”

I was curious about the process of the prestigious salon, but she didn’t seem to know much about it, even though she had a lot of knowledge about art.

“I know the old way well. But since Henri Matisse joined, it’s changed a lot every year.”

“Oh.”

I heard that they were making some adjustments.

“They’re holding a competition. They want to give a chance to the writers who weren’t invited.”

“Good. How high do I have to rank?”

“Top ten, they say.”

Kim Ji-woo wrote down only the important words and continued to ask questions.

“I heard they abolished the evaluation recently. How do they decide the ranking?”

“According to that bastard, by voting.”

“Which bastard?”

“Matisse.”

“Hmm. Okay.”

She tapped her head with a pen and tilted her head.

“I’m a bit worried.”

“About what?”

“The association is dominated by Henri Matisse, but they can’t ignore the critics. They’re connected by academic and regional ties, and many writers are also reviewers. They’re bound to be close.”

It may sound good that they have a good network, and it may actually be so.

But stagnant water tends to rot.

“If they lose their jobs, the repercussions will be huge. They’ll also raise the issue of the prestige of the salon.”

“Prestige?”

“Yeah. They’ll say that it’s degrading to let the public judge without them. It’s obvious.”

It was just Kim Ji-woo’s prediction, but if that happened, there would be nothing more ridiculous.

It would be no different from what the old French Royal Academy of Art did, criticizing those who didn’t fit in with them.

Besides, it’s foolish to think that what the public likes is low-quality.

It’s disgusting how arrogant they are, thinking that they can rank what’s better.

“But I’m looking forward to it. If it’s by voting, we can really see who’s the most popular.”

“Me too.”

“Then what work are you going to submit?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Huh? It’s until November 10th. You only have two months left.”

“I’m going to the east coast with my grandfather the day after tomorrow. I’m going to draw there.”

“Do you have to go there to draw? The sea? Landscape?”

“Not really, but I want to draw while resting for a few days in a quiet place. I have a lot of things I want to draw, but I don’t know what to submit.”

“Hmm. Well, it’ll be fine. Who else can win if not you?”

“There are so many good artists. I can’t be sure.”

“Well. These days, there aren’t many people who draw paintings. I don’t know any other names besides you. They all moved on to crossover.”

“Crossover?”

“Nowadays, there’s no one who does pure art. They combine it with other genres, like literature, music, movies, etc. That’s why they call it contemporary art instead of contemporary painting.”

Now that I think about it, that’s true.josei

Picture books can also be considered crossover.

Movies are also a comprehensive art that involves various fields.

At the Whitney Biennial, there were works that had a unique effect by letting you hear a specific sound while looking at the installation.

"It’s been a long trend. They said that French painting was over after Bernard Buffet, until Henri Matisse appeared."1)

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. Honestly, it’s hard to survive with just painting. You’re a really rare case.”

Whatever.

I know better than anyone in the world how happy it is to live by painting.

“Then the next question. You seemed to get along well with Henri Matisse recently. How is he really?”

“I didn’t think he was a bad person.”

Kim Ji-woo nodded and agreed.

“He was a bad person.”

“Huh?”

“Think about it. How would you feel if your face with black bean sauce on it was hung in the museum? And among the works of Raphael, Manet, Millet, and my grandfather.”

Kim Ji-woo rolled her eyes and thought, then laughed.

“Ah, so that’s why you said that.”

“What did I say?”

“I interviewed Henri Matisse earlier. I asked him what he thought of Love7, and he said it was perfect for mocking.”

“…”

I would have helped him if he just said he wanted to spit on it.

He wants to die with his whole body.

He made a person who lives peacefully thanks to the healthy body and love and happiness given by his parents and grandfather into a bad person.

***

“Sir, Mr. Chevasson, the president of the association, contacted you.”

Henri Matisse, who was looking around the first exhibition hall, showed his palm. His secretary Arsen handed him a smartphone, and he answered the phone sullenly.

“Why.”

-You better come quickly.

“Where?”

As Henri Matisse left the exhibition hall and reached the corridor, Mr. Chevasson Simon, the president of the French National Art Association, shouted.

-Where else but Paris!

“Don’t you know I’m in Korea?”

-That’s not important right now! They’re all making a fuss that they’ll quit if you go without an evaluation. You have to come and persuade them, don’t you?

“Tell them to get out.”

-What, what?

“It’s time to get rid of the trash that only takes up space.”

Henri Matisse’s attitude made the president of the association pound his chest.

-If it was that easy, I would have done it long ago! More than 3,000 people signed a petition, how can I ignore that?

“Trash is trash, no matter how much there is.”

-Forget it. Anyway, I can’t handle this, so come and make an agreement or do it the old way, whatever you want!

He hung up the phone nervously, and Henri Matisse threw the phone to his secretary Arsen.

“Are you going back?”

Arsen, who was listening to the conversation next to him, asked.

“No. Find out the names of the people who wrote the petition and left.”

“Okay.”

Henri Matisse, who was interrupted in his appreciation time, licked his tongue and went inside.

***

1)Andy Warhol said, “The last great master of French painting that I recognize is Bernard Buffet,” and highly praised him.

This is a reinterpretation of a statement that combines the historical situation of heading to the end of the century and the difficulty of further development in painting.

There is no such statement in reality.

Another question is whether painting really ended.

In 1839, when the camera was invented, the French painter Paul Delaroche said, “Today, painting is dead,” but the painters who refused to capture things accurately drew such wonderful works from Impressionism.

In the early 2000s, the Korean art scene also said that the era of painting was over, and there was a strong tendency to abandon painting and move on to installation art.

Recently, the importance of painting has been raised as it escapes from the isolation from the public.

There have always been words that it ended, it died, but the painters always moved us with their wonderful paintings.

I believe this time will be the same.