Van Gogh Page #5

Hello, maestro.

Hello.

Could I?

I wanted a peek

- If you don't mind

- It's in the back.

One more, and I'll be there.

What changes since you left Paris!

Such a daring approach

to pointillism.

It's exquisite!

My paintings are there.

I'm relieved:

I was being hypocritical.

As if I told you that thing

was the future of art.

But that

I can be sincere.

If I could do that

Look, your St. Rmy self-portrait.

You often finish

paintings in the studio?

Happens Bits and pieces

That's my garden and Marguerite

Coco's favourite acacia

That's good too.

Hello, doctor.

Hello. Are you better?

Yes.

The oozing stopped?

Two portraits of me?

I'm honoured.

I always do a copy.

- Which do I prefer?

- You'll only get one.

- What a treat!

- My models always get a copy.

Really?

Teach me your cut reed technique.

It's simple:
you just cut a reed.

Your brother doesn't push your work.

Dear Theo is being retentive.

- I know.

- No.

You laugh, but it shatters me.

- I told him to see you.

- Is he ill?

I meant your career.

It's coming along.

Aurier's piece on you was fine.

He's an idiot.

Very literary.

Writers don't understand painting.

My daughter said you were worried

That stinging pain?

Please, I'm her father

- I'm here to help you.

- No, to cure me.

You're in fine health,

but a hypochondriac.

At St. Rmy

you thrived on your illness.

I'm no expert.

But my fits weren't imaginary.

You doctors aren't patients.

When you are, then what?

We cease to be doctors.

You should be on a diet.

I'll wrap it up.

I'll parade with your masterpiece.

- You're muscular, like me.

- Exercise!

I don't laze in my studio:

my legs go in my art, too.

Your painting hasn't found its price,

only its pace!

What the hell are you doing?

That pink haze there

upsets the balance

I'm removing it.

It's a big mistake.

That's much better.

I like fluidity,

airy things like Turner.

I soar above this earthbound art.

Earthbound

Those mechanical strokes

Your paintings are too big!

They're too big!

Too big?

How come you copied them 5 times?

Mine are ecstasy fluidity

Look!

Look what you do? It's so thick,

the leaves are like the water

or the sky. It's all the same.

Look at it.

There's no glaze.

You don't know how to glaze.

All those layers,

all those strokes.

It's all bunched up.

- There's no feeling

- You through?

- Look at that

- You through?

I saw his paintings Superb!

I'm proud, he's like family.

He always will be.

We have 6 rooms:

you won't take him in.

His room isn't a room.

- You've seen it?

- No, but I can imagine

You'd like him

to sleep nearer to you.

The insane can be

dangerous company.

- What do you mean?

- I mean in general.

You say he's normal, in good health.

He cut his own ear.

The fits at the asylum in St. Rmy

Lock me up:
I'd have fits too.

His brother never visited him.

His real trouble

is the syphilis he's had for years.

Mom had it too. She died of it.

You gave it to her.

Don't talk like that!

Not in that tone!

His influence again!

They said she'd go blind:

she was put in a dark room.

Aunt Francia told me.

I was sent away to Lille.

Your mother was always

in poor health.

What is this?

I read bits of your medical books.

You hid things from us.

I was young:
kids notice things.

Unhappiness affects them.

What's got into you?

You're hysterical, like your mother.

To you Vincent's hysterical,

we all are.

It's fashionable.

You aspire to liberal thinking,

but you wind up a bigot.

You can't cure him.

You do nothing! He came to be cured.

It's as wrong to say he's mad,

as to say he's not mad.

I'm in love with him!

- What?

- I'm in love with him!

- You'd marry that

- Who said marriage?

You'd live with a madman

No madder than you. He loves me,

wants to live with me.

- He told you?

- No, but I know it.

So much for your liberalism!

You apply it to others, not to me.

You're like everyone else.

I have no set ideas, but this

In theory, you're considerate,

modern free love and all that

But in practice, forget it.

You're a coward.

That's why you can't paint!

What you just said is unforgivable.

Good news. I convinced Theo:

Jo and the baby will spend

the summer here.

Glad?

It's unfair to slave

and earn no money from one's work.

You earn something

from your work.

You're going to support me?

I know Theo

won't help me any more.

Some days painting revolts me.

Maybe it's just as well.

I write Theo that all's fine.

He doesn't realize what I'm doing.

Maybe he does.

What can he tell you?

That it's no good? He can't.

You always defend him!

- I try to understand.

- I know what's up.

Don't talk about things

you don't know.

The Van Goghs aren't

an artistic family.

The way my father looked at me:

My work had to be really

ugly and dirty to him,

for me to get that look.

I just went on painting

in my own way.

That's all.

I keep at it

But what's the use?

True, things are changing.

- You help me more than Kate

- Thanks a lot!

If I'd met you instead of her

You're lucky she didn't work out.

People say

her rejection of you

drove you to paint great art.

I say, with a decent girl

you'd have done even better work.

- If that's what you think

- Yes, I do.

- If that's what you think

- Stop complaining!

You're gifted!

Forget your brother and his wife.

Forget all that.

Only you can make

the name Van Gogh famous!

We married?

- You sound like wifey.

- Look,

they're not pushing you,

you're towing them all.

They're jealous

of what you've got.

Nothing was good enough

for your Kate.

Those women always marry

the idiots they deserve!

And you're moping over her.

Why are you going to Paris Sunday?

- To get sloshed.

- You can't do that here?

To get sloshed!

- Notice anything?

- I know them by heart.

We're out of the woods.

Theo will smother you with jewels.

I'll settle for less.

There's only 30.

And the rest?

At Tanguy's.

I'll go to Clauzel St

Watch out if you run into people.

You scare everyone.

He picks fights in Paris.

He's a grown man.

He's eccentric

But like anyone else

he needs help

- We can't do anything

except relieve our own guilt.

Like charity,

that makes the donors feel good.

Those 50 franc bills

they relieve you more than him.

Am I right?

- Get rid of this for me.

- What?

- There.

- I hate that

Go on squeeze

That's it.

He should've been

one of the best painters of his time.

But he started late

and rushed things.

He always does.

Like when he wanted to be a priest.

He never learned.

I don't understand him.

The truth is:

deep down I don't like his painting.

I wish he painted like Renoir.

I'd love that.

No, I don't want him

to paint like Renoir.

Not that, either.

But if Renoir painted like Vincent

I'd like it because

my brother hadn't done it.

- See?

- What nonsense.

You complicate everything.

Life just happens, that's all.

- Shall I rinse you down?

- Yes.

Vollard's wrong to play

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