Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 886 Van Gogh
Although Van Gogh's paintings were not very popular because they did not match the main style of that era, after his death, his paintings and his status in art history became higher and higher, and even became the pride of the Netherlands.

However, unlike most ordinary people’s imagination, Van Gogh’s life was not impoverished. To give a simple example, his brother gave him 100-150 francs a month, while a teacher’s monthly income was only 75 francs.

At the same time, there are too many coincidences in his lack of talent. After all, that era was not the Internet era, everything was slow, the marketing channels were not smooth, and it was not easy for painters to become famous. It took at least 25 years of art to be accepted by the market.

The problem with Van Gogh is that he started too late. He didn’t decide to pursue art until he was 27 years old. His career as an artist was only 10 years old. In the year of his death, professional art critics had seriously reviewed his paintings in magazines.

Around 1908, collectors began to search for a large number of Van Gogh's paintings. If Van Gogh was alive, he would be in his 50s at this time, which is not considered old at all from the current point of view.

It's a pity that Van Gogh left too early, so that he didn't enjoy the recognition he deserved at all, otherwise he would most likely have enjoyed success and fame during his lifetime.

In addition, whether Van Gogh's madness is in line with the mental illness in the current sense is also a question worthy of discussion.After all, the reason why Van Gogh gives people the impression of "crazy" is inseparable from his inheritance of epilepsy, a family disease.

It is well known that until today epilepsy is still a disease that can only be alleviated but not cured.So Van Gogh's periodic chronic disease deeply affected his emotions. He was irritable and easily depressed, which also caused him to have short-term amnesia.

In addition, he eats poorly and is malnourished, but loves to drink high-alcohol absinthe, drink a lot of coffee, smoke cheap tobacco and other irritating foods, which aggravates his emotional ups and downs.

Absinthe is a high-alcohol wine with anise and fennel flavor. The main raw materials are anise, fennel and absinthe herb. These three are often referred to as the "Holy Trinity".

This wine has strong aroma, light taste and slightly bitter taste, and contains high alcohol content above 45%, so it is traditionally diluted with 3-5 times of ice water dissolved in sugar cubes, so the taste is sweet first and then bitter, accompanied by With a leisurely herbal smell.

What's more, the main ingredient in absinthe is absinthe herb, a bitter herb that contains a chemical called absinthol, which is very similar to a drug that is legal in many countries but illegal in others. The effective chemical component THC in the plant.

This means that both absinthenia brain and THC produce psychotropic drug effects by interacting with common receptors in the central nervous system. Simply put, drinking alcohol can also produce drug-like effects.

While it is well known that alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and psychotropic drugs are doubly effective in the recurrence of epilepsy,
So under the influence of a large amount of hallucinogens, alcohol, coffee and nicotine, even Van Gogh once suspected that he was "going crazy".Voluntary admission to the psychiatric sanatorium in Saint-Rémy.

However, some scholars visited this mental sanatorium a few years ago and obtained the case of Van Gogh. According to the analysis of Van Gogh's medical records, Van Gogh was "not crazy".

In addition, some Van Gogh researchers believe that Van Gogh was regarded as a lunatic because "his thinking was too ahead of his time" and people at that time could not understand it.

The most important thing is that Van Gogh left a large number of letters that show that his mind was normal.It can even be said to be sharp, at least a madman cannot write that kind of logical and well-organized letter.

So Liang En thinks that the reason for the promotion in later generations is that only Van Gogh was poor and lived a miserable life, which fits the image of "art martyr saint" and produces a stronger dramatic effect.

"This is a national treasure, that's right, this is a national treasure." Just as Liang En was telling Jeanne a little story about Van Gogh, Nelson, who had read through the entire notebook, became excited, and continued He raised his head and looked at Liang En.

"Liang, can I ask you one thing?"

"Let me hear what you ask of me first." Liang En looked at him and said, "You also know that I am only one person after all, so I may not be able to fulfill your request."

"Of course you can do it." Nelson raised the notebook in his hand and said, "I will deal with everything I found this time and give it to you. At the same time, I will give you my manor in Ireland. I only hope you Can you give me this note."

"Are you really willing?" Liang En was a little surprised after hearing what Nelson said, because the wealth here is definitely not a small number, and the manor that Nelson mentioned is even more expensive.

It was a Victorian-style building built in 1863. It has been renovated and decorated many times. There are 6 luxuriously decorated bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and three living rooms.The entire property covers an area of ​​more than 120 hectares.

In a way this is a real mansion.Fishing, farming, and polo matches can be held. Even if the current economic situation is average, similar real estate costs about 520 million euros.

To be honest, although Liang En's current wealth is definitely not a small number, but for him whose industry is on the rise, he is more willing to put that wealth on industrial development, so he certainly does not want to spend a lot of wealth on enjoying .

Of course, this doesn't mean that Liang En is that kind of self-abuse ascetic, but just a more realistic person, so he naturally likes this kind of big house, so he confirmed it with Nelson.

Because in his opinion, even if Van Gogh's record book is sold at the highest value, it is actually a little worse than what he paid this time, so it is necessary to find out why in advance.

You must know that even the works of the same famous masters have obviously different prices. Taking Van Gogh's works as an example, the prices of his famous works and his less famous works are two levels, let alone oil paintings and drafts.

Although the contents of the pictures in the notebook in front of me are several masterpieces of Van Gogh, including a pair of sunflowers and the draft of his last work, the price is not as high as those oil paintings, and it can even be said to be several orders of magnitude lower. .

"There are many reasons, such as these works have a lot of room for appreciation." Nelson said with a smile. "The more important point is that these things have a great effect on my opening up in the Dutch market—"

The Nelson family is still in the shipping business, and their next expansion target is the Netherlands, so he hopes to contact the Netherlands, which will benefit his next move.

There is no doubt that these works of Van Gogh are the easiest stepping stones to contact the Dutch authorities.So for Nelson, the value of these things is far higher than the market value.

"So that's the case." Liang En nodded after listening to Nelson explain the reasons, because many things have different values ​​to different people.So it makes sense that some values ​​are unusually high for some people.

"Then I will give you this book. I hope your business in the Netherlands will be smooth sailing this time."

(End of this chapter)