Claude Monet is often criticised for being overexposed, too easy, too obvious.
莫奈常因过度曝光 技巧简易 表意明显遭受批评
Or worse a “chocolate box artist”.
甚至被批为一个花哨俗气的作者
His last works, the enormous waterlily canvases
他最后的大型系列油画作品 睡莲
are amongst the most popular artworks in the world.
是世上最受欢迎的画作之一
Yet there is nothing tame traditionalist or cozy about these last paintings.
但并未体现他传统亦或轻松的笔调
These are his most radical works of all.
是他最具有颠覆性的作品
They turn the world upside down with their strange disorientating and immersive vision.
紊乱的画面 沉浸式的体验 完全改变了人们的认知
Monet’s “Water lilies” have come to be viewed as simply
睡莲系列刚开始仅仅作为
an aesthetic interpretation of the garden that obsessed him.
莫奈痴迷花园的艺术诠释
But they are so much more.
但其内涵却远不如此
These works were created as a direct response
它们是对现代史上
to the most savage and apocalyptic period of modern history.
最野蛮最动荡时期的正面回应
They were in fact conceived as
事实上它们被视为
a war memorial to the millions of lives tragically lost in the first world war.
一战中无数游魂的纪念碑
[维纳斯的诞生]
[蒙娜丽莎]
[格尔尼卡]
[阿诺芬尼夫妇像]
[无题]
1.颠覆世界
In 1914 at the age of 74,
1914年 莫奈74岁
Monet was a successful and very wealthy artist.
是一个成功且富有的艺术家
However, his friends were dying off,
然而 他的朋友们相继离世
and he was still mourning his beloved wife’s death three years earlier,
他自己仍深陷在三年前妻子逝世
when his son Jean died.
和儿子Jean离世的哀痛中
then his legendary eyesight started to fail.
他非凡的视力也开始衰退
He should have just retired and enjoyed his old age.
他本应就此停笔安享晚年
Instead, this was precisely when Monet
然而此时 莫奈决定
decided to undertake a revolutionary new series of paintings,
打造一系列全新的革命性画作
that would become his career defining work.
而这将成为他职业生涯的经典作品
2.橘园艺术馆
Monet’s last works are eight monumental curved panels,
他最后的作品 是特意为巴黎橘园博物馆绘制的
specifically designed for the Orangerie in Paris.
八幅大型曲面版睡莲
One of the greatest artistic achievements of early 20th century painting,
这是20世纪初最伟大的艺术作品之一
They cover a staggering 200 square metres of canvas,
它们整整用了200m²的画布
which surround and envelop the viewer with wild gestural abstractions.
使参观者完全置身于狂野的姿态抽象中
Monet himself described them perfectly when he said it “gives the illusion of an endless whole.
莫奈准确地描述道“这种布局给人无穷无尽的幻觉
Of a wave with no horizon and no shore”.
就像波浪不停地翻涌 既看不见地平线也没有海岸”
We see them today or rather experience them today
今天我们观赏 或者说体验们它时
the same way viewers did in 1927,
同1927年的人们的感受别无二致
when they were installed according to Monet’s plans.
因为画作是按照莫奈的设计安放的
Monet worked closely with the architect of the two galleries.
莫奈和两座美术馆有着紧密的工作关系
The paintings would be hung across the curved walls of two egg-shaped rooms.
其作品也会被挂在两个蛋型房间的曲面墙上
He meticulously planned out the forms, positioning, rhythm,
他精心设计结构 布局 撘配
and even the spaces between the various panels.
甚至不同作品之间的间隔
They would have filtered daylight coming in from above that floods the space.
这些会影响上方光线在地面的投射
The panels with sunrise hues would be positioned to the galleries in the east,
凡是描绘日出色调的画会被放在馆东
and the sun set scenes to the west.
描绘日落时的画则置于馆西
And so the nature of the pictures would change,
因此画作的呈现
with the weather and the position of the sun.
会随天气与光照角度变化而改变
In that sense, they could be considered the world’s first”art installation”.
就此而言 这开创了装置艺术的先河
And yet thirteen years before these incredible paintings went on display,
但是 13年前 这些惊艳的作品尚未展出之时
Monet had no intention of ever picking up a brush again.
莫奈丝毫不想重拾画笔
3.老友
Forty years had passed since the notorious 1874 group exhibition
自1874年首次印象派展览失败后
which introduced the Impressionists.
过去了40年
The great Monet had accomplished everything he wanted to
莫奈完成了所有想做的创作
and decided once and for all, to retire his paint brushes.
决心永久封笔
He now claimed to find painting “unremitting torture”.
他声称画画是一场持久的折磨
Monet had had enough.
而他已经累了
Luckily for us, Georges Clemenceau visited Monet
万幸的是 乔治•克里孟梭于1914年八月末
in his house in Giverny, in late August 1914.
拜访了在吉维尼居住的莫奈
Clemenceau was a newspaper editor and politician
克里孟梭当时是报社编辑兼政治家
who would soon be made prime minister,
并且即将被任命为总理
to help lead France to victory in the First World War.
以带领法国赢得一战的胜利
He was an irrepressible force of nature, an art lover
他分外爱好自然 热爱艺术
and a close friend of Monet for over 30 years.
是莫奈长达30年的好友
They had gone from “enfants terribles” to grand old men
他们一块从“坏小孩”变成了老前辈
and were two of the most famous men in France.
还都成了法国社会的名人
Clemenceau would flatter and sweet talk the depressed Monet,
克里孟梭开导消沉的莫奈
coax him out of retirement, and persuade him to paint again.
劝说他不要放弃 鼓励他再次拿起画笔
For Clemenceau, art in general and Monet’s paintings in particular,
对于克里孟梭而言 艺术 尤其是莫奈的画作
were the highest expression of French civilisation,
是法国文明的最高象征
against the threat of German barbarism.
这体现了对德国野蛮主义的抗争
In that sense, to keep painting was Monet’s “patriotic duty”.
就此来看 继续作画是莫奈的爱国义务
While Monet had been painting his ponds and lilies since 1889,
尽管从1889年起 莫奈一直在画他的池塘和莲花
by 1914 there had been three years of creative inactivity.
但1914年之前 他却经历了三年的创意枯竭
Clemenceau’s visit inspired Monet to pick up his brush again,
克里孟梭的来访激励莫奈重拾画笔
and he began working intensely on what he called: “The grand decorations”,
并专注着手他口中的“大型装饰画”
a radical new departure.
这是一次全新的开始
Through out the war, Clemenceau would nag Monet to paint,
战争时期 克里孟梭也督促莫奈画画
and despite wartime rations,
除了战时物资供给
he would make sure Monet had plenty of art supplies and cigarettes.
还保证供应莫奈大量的画材和香烟
And in return, Monet would donate his works to the nation.
作为回报 莫奈则将作品捐赠给国家
4.战争画作
Monet was deeply affected by the horrors of war.
战争的恐怖深刻地影响了莫奈
His step son was fighting at the front,
他的继子在前线打仗
and his own son Michel was called up in 1915.
亲生儿子Michel在1915年应征入伍
He could hear the sound of gunfire 50 kilometers away
当他作画时 莫奈在吉维尼的家中
from his house in Giverny, as he painted.
能听见50公里外的枪声
For Monet these works would be his very personal response
对莫奈来说 这些作品可能是他对一战
to the mass tragedy of the First World War.
这一大众悲剧的个人表达
Following Armistice Day, Monet contacted Clemenceau,
停战之后 莫奈联系了克里孟梭
offering a gift of two panels of large-scale water lilies to the nation.
将两幅大型睡莲作为礼物送给国家
The canny politician would soon persuade Monet
克里孟梭是个精明的政客
to extend the gift to eight panels,
通过感召莫奈的责任感
by appealing to his ego.
很快说服他送出8幅画
Clemenceau despised the sculptor Auguste Rodin,
克里孟梭看不起雕塑家奥古斯特·罗丹
who had once done an unflattering sculpture of him.
这个人曾雕像来丑化他
And Rodin, had just donated his works to France
而罗丹为了在巴黎建造罗丹博物馆
for the creation of the Rodin museum in Paris.
刚刚向法国捐献了自己的作品
Clemenceau proposed a dedicated space to Monet
克里孟梭也提议向莫奈提供一个专用场地
for his “Grand decorations”
放置他的“大型装饰”系列
Was the rivalry between the two artists,
两位艺术家之间的竞争
a reason that Monet was now also seeking artistic immortality
是莫奈开始寻找特定场地
in a dedicated space?
追求艺术永恒的原因吗？
5.准备阶段
The impressionists,
印象派画家曾震惊巴黎
once the radical and subversive young artists who scandalised Paris,
激进且具有颠覆性的年轻艺术家
were now the mainstream.
如今已然成为主流
New Avant-garde movements, meant Monet, once the voice of rebellion,
莫奈认为的先锋运动 曾经是反动的声音
now became the standard to rebel against.
现在则被视为反抗意识的标志
His new works needed to have an impact,
如果他想同19世纪那样
if Monet was to be as relevant in the 20th century
在20世纪也拥有一席之地
as he was in the 19th century.
就需要有影响力的新作
He decided to work on a scale he’d never attempted before.
因此他决定创作从未尝试过的大幅面作品
His ambition was phenomenal.
以期追求卓越
All eight panels would be the same height, but differ in length.
8幅作品高度一致 长短不一
Together they would span a total length of 91 meters or 300 feet.
总长度共计91米 即300英尺
The first task was to build a new studio,
创作的首要任务便是搭建一个全新的工作室
to accommodate the huge canvases,
用以容纳巨型的画板
with space enough for him to assess his work,
给予莫奈足够的空间观测他的作品
with maximum possible light from top lighting.
和最大程度的室内采光
It is a myth that Monet painted all his canvases outside,
传言说莫奈在室外作画
A myth Monet himself propagated,
这是他声称自己不需要画室时
when he famously claimed to not even have a studio.
一则自己散布的传言
Most of Monet’s paintings were started outside,
其实他大部分画作虽在室外起稿
For these colossal paintings Monet worked on up to 12 canvases at the same time,
莫奈同时创作的12幅大型画作
which were placed on easels fitted with caster wheels,
被放在有四脚轮的画架上
and rotated according to the light he was trying to capture.
随着他想要捕捉的光线旋转移动
It also allowed one canvas to dry as he worked on another.
这可以在让一幅画变干的同时 描绘下一幅
6.技巧
A single canvas might take 60 sessions of intense work,
一幅画大概需要60次高强度工作来完成
and some were given as many as 15 layers of paint.
有些画需要上色多达15层
One visitor noted 75 paint brushes and 40 boxes of pigments.
一个参观者指出共需75支画笔和40盒颜料
Monet chose canvases with a pronounced weave
莫奈选用的帆布 其编织方式很特殊
whose “Weft” threads were thicker than the “Warp”.
纬纱要比经纱厚
He then applied a series of undercoats, letting them dry, before applying another.
他在上面涂系列底色 晾干 再涂下一层
He would often scrape off paint to create an uneven surface,
他会刮去部分颜料 让布的表面不再平整
that he would paint over once again, to get a sculptural effect.
之后再开始作画 营造雕刻的效果
He brushed his paints on thickly, so that the canvas weave trapped more of the pigment.
他厚涂画布 画布便能吸收更多的色彩
and created what has been described as “A textural vibration”.
达到他所说的 “质感共鸣”
He didn’t blend colours over large areas,
比起选择大规模混合颜色
but rather did short strokes of colour side by side,
莫奈选择并排进行短笔画
allowing the eye to mix those spots of colour at a distance.
让双眼在远处自动融合色块
Here we can see the action that produced these daubs and dashes of broken colour.
我们可以看到莫奈是如何绘制这些破碎色块的
As we see, sometimes the strokes are fairly short dashes, others are longer vertical strokes.
画笔有时留下短短一抹 或者是长长的竖直笔触
There is no blending or rubbing, just thrusts of the brush.
没有混合涂抹 只是一笔笔地画过
The water lilies themselves are simple strokes.
睡莲本身是用简单的笔触绘制而成
Then he uses pale yellows and greens, a spot of red or a dash of lilac.
他使用淡黄色 淡绿色 一点红色和少量淡紫色
Then vague strokes of blue to suggest shadows.
浅浅的几笔蓝充当阴影
Our eyes do the rest.
其余的都交给了我们的眼睛
There is a key element missing from Monet’s water lilies: the horizon.
莫奈的睡莲并未体现一关键元素：地平线
A fundamental element of Western painting
从文艺复兴起
since the Renaissance.
它就被认定为西方绘画的基本元素
In paintings, particularly landscape paintings,
尤其是在风景画作中
the horizon orientates the viewer, and defines the space.
地平线确定观众的位置 定义空间的范围
Showing the spatial relationships within the composition.
在布局中展示着空间关系
By taking out the horizon,
没有地平线
the water takes up the whole of the canvas, from edge to edge.
湖水充斥着整幅画面 没有留下一丝空隙
We are left with a vast field of unfathomable nothingness,
留给我们不可捉摸的虚无
of light, air and water.
充斥着光线 空气 和水
We have no sense of scale.
我们失去对幅面的感知
Monet somehow positions us
不知怎么地
simultaneously floating above the water and looking at it head-on.
莫奈让既我们漂浮在水上 又正面观看着它
As a viewer, your eyes tend to roam the canvas, left and right, up and down.
作为观众 我们的视线在画布上四处漫游
Looking for a place to settle and anchor,
寻找港湾停泊
wondering where the form you are focusing on, quite begins and ends,
思索自己关注的事物在何处 又从哪里开始哪里结束
and how exactly it is constructed.
又是如何建构的
This for me,
在我看来
is why these works succeed so well as a war memorial.
这就是它能取得成功 成为战争纪念的原因
The image that often comes to mind
看到这幅画 经常会联想到
is the battle ravaged landscape, along the Western front.
西部前线战争破败的景色
Like the paintings, those battlefields had no beginning or end, and no horizons.
就像画一样 战场中没有起始 没有地平线
Time and space was forgotten, as soldiers were enveloped in a sea of mud,
时空被遗忘 士兵们似乎被冰封在泥沼中
surrounded by waterlogged and surreal landscapes, which covered their field of vision.
被湿漉与离奇的景色围绕 阻拦了视野
There is a sense of mourning in the work,
哀悼的氛围在画作中萦绕着
particularly with the truncated weeping willow trees,
尤其是那些砍断的柳树
gathering us up in their embrace.
将我们拉进他们的身边
These paintings are as Monet intended,
这些画 正如莫奈所设想的那样
not only symbolic of the loss of the glorious dead of the great war,
不仅象征着战争中光荣牺牲的士兵
but perhaps all those people Monet had lost too.
同时象征着莫奈所失去的亲朋
7 白内障
In 1912, Monet was diagnosed with cataracts,
1912年 莫奈被诊断出患有白内障
which worsened steadily over the years.
且逐年恶化
For Monet, for whom colour was everything,
对莫奈来说 色感是他的全部
this was a tragedy.
这简直是晴天霹雳
Age-related cataracts manifest as a yellowing and darkening of the lens,
老年性白内障表现为晶状体变黄变暗
and have a major effect on colour perception, as well as visual sharpness.
色感与视物清晰度会受到很大影响
If we look at this early painting by Monet,
我们看这幅莫奈早期的画作时
we can see that it is representative of
可以发现这副画直接体现了
the colours and details of the actual bridge at Giverny.
吉维尼实际桥梁的色彩与细节
But if we take the Japanese bridge and add a filter,
但如果我们给这个日式桥加上一层滤镜
we can get some idea of how Monet might have seen it tonally after the cataracts developed.
我们就能体会莫奈白内障恶化后 他眼中的色调了
Monet could either paint a yellowish world,
莫奈可以创作一个黄色调的世界
or he could compensate and neutralise the yellow,
或通过添加更多的蓝色
by adding more blue pigment.
调和或者中和这些黄色
These late paintings show a predominant green blue tone
他的后期作品主要以蓝绿色调为主
that is quite different from the subtle colour shading,
而他早期的印象派作品注重颜色变化
that characterises Monet’s earlier Impressionistic work.
二者风格迥异
On top of this, his cataracts would blur his vision,
除此之外 白内障还模糊了他的视线
which may explain why the application of paint is more abstract,less clear than it once was.
这也许可以解释为何画作较从前更加抽象
These are of course aesthetic choices,
这当然也有审美方面的考量
but we know from Monet’s own words,
但据莫奈本人说
that he could no longer see the details or make out colours.
他已经无法看清细节 辨别颜色
With all these issues,
综上而言
it may explain his choice of working on such a large scale,
也就能解释他为何画出如此大幅面的画了
as a way to compensate.
这其实是对自身缺陷的弥补罢了
8.接收画作
Persuading Monet to make the paintings was easy.
劝说莫奈作画容易
Persuading him to part with them was the difficult bit.
但让他离开他的作品却有点困难
It was up to Clemenceau, to arrange the transfer of the artworks from Giverny.
克里孟梭负责将他的作品转移出吉维尼
A thankless task, that tested their friendship
这份工作吃力不讨好 检验着二人的友情
Clemenceau, who had negotiated the treaty of Versailles
克里孟梭 一个促成凡尔赛条约的人
drew on all his diplomatic skills, negotiating with the difficult Monet.
使出他的外交技巧同难搞的莫奈周旋
The rooms at the Orangerie were completed and ready for installation,
橘园展馆已经完工 做好了安置的准备
but Monet hadn’t delivered the paintings.
但莫奈迟迟未递交画作
He was constantly “reworking” them, and seemed incapable of finishing.
他不停地“重新画” 并且似乎永远没有尽头
The “Setting Sun” canvas for example, took him two years.
单落日这幅画 就花了长达2年的时间
It has been repainted over and over,
他反复不停地改动
but still Monet left the lower right hand corner unfinished.
但就是不画右下角巴掌大的地方
Painting was keeping him alive.
画画为他赋予灵魂
In the end, Monet didn’t let them out of his studio till after his death.
最后 直到莫奈去世 他的画才从工作室中搬走
Monet died on the 5th of December 1926, at the age of 86,
1926年12月5日 莫奈逝世 享年86岁
with Georges Clemenceau at his bedside, holding his hand.
克里孟梭在他的床边 握着他的手
The “odd couple” had been friends for over six decades,
这对“怪兄弟”友情长达六十多年
and it was, by far, the most profound relationship of both their lives.
迄今为止 是彼此生命中最重要的人
The thing they had in common, was their belief in the transcendent power of art.
他们都深信艺术的伟大力量
A few months after Monet’s death,
莫奈逝世数月后
the public finally saw”The Grand Water Lilies” for the first time.
公众终于得见莫奈的大型睡莲系列
It was not a particularly glorious moment.
这在当时并未收获赞誉
And they were attacked by critics, as the work of “an old man”, and “Devastatingly dull”.
还惨遭批判 被批为糟老头子的极度沉闷之作
All those colourful smudges and loose brush work seemed insubstantial and ephemeral,
多彩的色块 松散的笔触 似乎虚无缥缈 转瞬即逝
when you compared them to the rigorous forms of the Cubists and Futurists.
尤其是同立体派和未来派的严谨相比
Monet, rejected by the critics in the 19th century for being too radical,
19世纪 莫奈被批太过标新立异
was now being criticised in the 20th century, for not being radical enough.
20世纪 莫奈被批不够标新立异
Clemenceau himself died in November 1929,
克里孟梭则于1929年11月逝世
devastated by the lack of public interest in his dream.
公众对其政治理想的冷漠态度 让他失望至极
And the works would be largely forgotten about for decades.
而莫奈的作品大概几十年后就会被遗忘
However in the 1950s, a new generation of American artists,
然而 20世纪50年代 美国新兴的艺术流派
The Abstract Expressionists rediscovered Monet,
抽象表现派 重新发现了莫奈
and these last works in particular, were seen as a logical jumping off point for abstraction.
尤其是莫奈后期的作品 被他们视为抽象派的萌芽
Artists,including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock
包括马克·罗斯科和杰克逊·波洛克在内的艺术家
were inspired by the last water lilies.
都受到睡莲系列作品的启发
Their epic scale, gripping energy, and emotional impact, thrilled them.
幅面宏大 扣人心弦 激荡情感 让他们激动颤栗
They saw them as, less about water lilies, or the morning sun,
与其说他们欣赏睡莲 或者朝阳
than they are about the “pleasures of paint”, “The act of creation”.
不如说他们欣赏作画的趣味和创作的行为
Nowadays the genius of Monet is indisputable,
如今 莫奈的天赋是大众公认
the Orangerie, a shrine to his talent.
橘园则是欣赏他天才画作的圣地
But although Monet, may have painted, what is now called “The Sistine chapel of Impressionism”,
莫奈虽画出了如今被称作 印象主义的西斯廷教堂
he could never have done it, without the vision of Georges Clemenceau.
但没有克里孟梭 他可能永远不会取得这样的成就