Rimbaud's girl

He was taken aback: a one-third salary increase!He hasn't heard of it yet!

"Probably not, no one can add 30 pounds at once."

"Do you think £90 a year is your ideal salary? In other words, is £90 an acceptable salary for you?"

He shook his head, "No."

"How much do you think your annual salary should be to be worthy of your knowledge and experience?"

He was embarrassed, "What do you mean?"

"Let you set a price for yourself." She thought this was really interesting, so she laughed happily. "This is a simple calculation. You are just a salesperson now, not a businessman. What is the maximum annual salary for a salesperson, 200 pounds? 300 pounds? How much do you think you need to earn as an art dealer a year to be worthy of you?" working hours per day."

"10 hours, half an hour for lunch."

"That's the working hours of a salesperson. If you were your own boss, you might have to work 12 hours a day, or even more. What price would you set for yourself?"

He hadn't thought about it yet, no, thought about it, but he hadn't thought about the specific amount.When my mother talked about his future career prospects, she only said that it would be best to become a successful art dealer like Uncle Vincent, but how to do it, how long it would take, and how much money he would need to make a year, my mother had no idea at all. number.

"If you want to calculate this way, how much does it cost for the 8 members of your family to live a normal life without going hungry for a year? Convert it into francs. You have to earn at least half of this money a year to be considered 'OK'."

He exchanged Dutch guilders for francs in his mind: his father had a pastor's allowance, plus a little ground rent, which was enough for the whole family to barely eat and clothe; although he was not very happy when he was in school, receiving education at school was a happy thing. His grades are very good, especially in foreign languages, but when he turned 15, he dropped out of school and went home to stay——

"At least fifteen hundred francs."

Vitaly smiled, "Look! It's not a lot! However, 1500 francs is three times your annual salary. How many years will it take you to work in Goupil to achieve an annual salary of 3 pounds? How many years will it take to reach an annual salary of 300 pounds?"

Vincent was immediately discouraged, and said in a low voice, "It won't be achieved in 10 years."

"If you learn to paint for 10 years, how can you reach the level of Forlan? Forlan can earn 1000 francs a year selling paintings now, and he will definitely earn more than this in the future. If you can't learn painting, it will take at most one year You will know whether you are suitable to be a painter, and it is not a waste of time."

Really convincing!

Vincent van Gogh was very moved, "I can try it."

He looked at her shyly, "I tried to draw some sketches in the past few days, I think I can still draw a little, a little... not bad."

He loves painting art, so he has been doing very well as a salesman. His most famous salesman is that he can select suitable paintings according to the needs of customers, and tell customers what are the advantages of these paintings, so that when customers come home When introducing your collections to relatives and friends, you can copy his explanations, and the customer satisfaction is very high.

But there was always a strange, indefinable dissatisfaction in his heart, but he never figured out what it was.Now Vitaly tells him, in very cheesy money, exactly what his "dissatisfaction" is about.

"Money" and "value" are sometimes the same. How much you think a painter's painting is worth is the artist's "value".In the same way, how much his annual salary is means how much the Goupil company thinks he is "worth" as an employee-of course he is more than 90 pounds!

Money is a good thing, his uncles are all rich, he already knew what kind of life a rich man lives, and he has no objection to having a rich life so that he can eat well and live in a spacious house , Wear suits and coats with good materials, and you can also buy flowers for girls you like.

Does Vitaly like flowers?Girls like flowers, what kind of flowers does she like??

But he suddenly began to feel inferior again: Vitaly talked about money too easily, she understood the importance and charm of money, and she would not make people think she was vulgar; and he was just a poor Dutch boy, 90 years a year The pound may not be enough for her to buy new season skirts.

There was a pang of sadness in his heart.

"Painting is your career, now you should consider your career." The girl's soft voice said again: "Have you ever thought about who are the customers who are most willing to spend money in Goupil's company?"

"Rich people, but not too rich, and not at least 3 generations of aristocrats."

"Yes. They have money in their hands, but their artistic accomplishment is not very good. They urgently need some artworks to decorate their homes. I heard that the paintings of Monet and Degas are not selling well, and they can hardly be sold at a high price. Yes Because the French interior decoration style does not match their painting style."

"Yes. The guests don't like their style very much. The interior decoration style of Crosswa Manor is relatively simple, which is quite suitable."

This is the style of interior decoration.In the era when Baroque and Rococo prevailed, the interior walls of the rooms were decorated magnificently. Except for portraits and religious portraits, other landscape paintings, flower still lifes, etc. were difficult to put on the walls. Placed like this on a resplendent wall, it is eye-catching and harmonious; but if bright flowers are placed on a rich wall, it will give people a feeling of being too messy to stand out from the painting.

Just like why rich people in later generations like to buy paintings, it is because the indoor and outdoor decoration styles in the 21st century are generally technologically cold gray tones, cold and sexual, and almost any style of painting is suitable for hanging on the wall; plus more than half There was no world war in the century, the economy was prosperous and stable, and the art market flourished immediately.

Of course, the Franco-Prussian War also affected the sales of Goupil, but the market soon recovered. Since the spring of this year, the business has continued to be booming.

Vitaly thought about how to say it, and organized the language. "Does Goupil have any senior business managers? The ones who specialize in big clients."

"Yes, Mr. Tesson you saw in Mr. Degas's studio that day."

"How much is his annual salary?"

"I have no way of knowing the exact figure, but the annual salary plus commission should not be less than 6000 francs."

6000 francs can support a family of four in Paris, which is pretty good.It will take at least 10 years for Vincent to take the position of senior business manager, and seniority is the same everywhere. 6000 francs may be a bit difficult, but 1500 francs should not be very difficult.

"Paris is a city of art, why did you go to London instead of Paris?"

"I don't know too much. Actually, I want to stay in The Hague. I have worked in The Hague for 4 years."

That is, I started working at the age of 16.Thinking about him being the same as Arthur, he didn't go to school at the age of 16. If she hadn't tried her best to brainwash her brother into the benefits of going to college, Arthur would probably just find a job and earn a meager salary.well!It is true that the children of the poor are in charge of the family early.

"I didn't start buying paintings so quickly, you can go back to London first, and use this time to consider whether to continue to get a salary of 90 pounds at Goupil's company, or to try to make more money. What I want you to do is not Any exhibition hall or any company can do it. You have to help me choose a suitable painter and a suitable painting according to the interior decoration of the manor, and then negotiate the price. In fact, as long as I am willing to spend time, I can do this myself. But the problem is that I don’t have time to look for them one by one. The work you want to do does not require you to have much working capital. In fact, it is the role of a middleman. You find a suitable work from the seller and tell me how much it costs. After paying the money, you bring the work to me, and I don’t need to meet the seller. In the future, you don’t want your other buyers to meet the seller directly.”

What she said was simple and straightforward, and Vincent quickly understood it.This is really a very suitable job for him. He actually doesn’t have to go out early and return late every day. It’s a bit difficult in the early days. After the reputation spreads, he can even pick buyers.

bsp;*

Vincent stayed at Crosval Manor for three nights and two days. On the morning of the fourth day, he returned to Paris with the selected paintings.A few days later, leave London, take the train to Le Havre, and sail to England.

The train line from Paris to Le Havre did not run from Rouen, so he failed to say goodbye to Vitaly, so he could only write her a farewell letter.

It's winter, and there are greenhouses in the flower shop, which are very expensive. He wanted to buy a bouquet of pink for her, but he couldn't guarantee that it would be in good condition when it was delivered to Crosswale Manor.So he drew a bunch of pink on the sketch paper with colored pencils, put it in an envelope, and sent it to her together.

Vitaly quickly put van Gogh in London behind her.

Mrs. Rimbaud wrote to her, saying that she had decided to take her and Isabel to London to visit Arthur. Taking advantage of the Christmas holiday, she closed the shop a week in advance, and planned to stay in London until the New Year and then return to Charleville.She asked Vitaly to go home from Rouen, and then the mother and daughter took the train to Calais, and from Calais to take a boat to England.

Vitaly got the departure date, and quickly wrote to Gabriel to tell Gabriel the approximate time of her departure to England. Gabriel wrote back that he would pick them up in Dover, England. There is a train from Dover to London, which is very convenient. .As for accommodation, Arthur's London apartment was spacious enough for his family of four.

Vitaly thought that the apartment was under his name, and he could live in it for whoever he wanted, and his parents couldn't say anything, but they still had to ask.

"Dear Gabriel:

Thank you for your kindness, but I don't quite understand one thing, does mother need to visit your parents?Or, would your parents want to meet me?I don't know much about social etiquette here in France, let alone British social etiquette.If there is anything I need to know, you must tell me in advance, lest I be unprepared.

Missing you, thinking that I will see you next month, I am so happy.

kiss you.

Vitaly, Crosswald Manor.

Ps: After December 12, you should not send letters to Rouen, you can send them to Charleville. "

Vitaly is very busy at this time. The manor is being redecorated, but not completely redecorated. She has discussed with Flaubert's niece, Mrs. Commanville. The first stage is to replace the wallpaper and curtains in Flaubert's bedroom. Drapes, replace the wallpapers, curtains, and drapes in the downstairs study room and living room simultaneously.Flaubert inherited the manor after the death of his father Flaubert Sr., but he never changed the interior decoration in a large area, because his mother was still alive, and the old lady was unwilling to change the familiar decoration.

Now that Flaubert is the real master, it is still necessary to change the decoration in order to change the mood.

Flaubert had no objections, but asked that Mrs. Caroline's bedroom be kept as it was.

That's sure to be fine.

A phased renovation also suited Flaubert's current economic situation.

If Vitaly hadn't sold some of the paintings at his discretion, he wouldn't have had extra money for interior renovations.It takes a lot of money to maintain a manor, the house needs to be repaired and maintained, the wooden floor will be damaged, the roof may leak, the pipes will rust and block, everything will cost money.

Vitaly made several trips to Rouen to look at the curtain and drapery fabrics, and chose new wallpapers. The overall style was changed to a brighter color, and the wallpaper also chose a pattern with less conspicuous patterns.

Flaubert moved to another room farther away.

Workers ripped out the old wallpaper and replaced it with new wallpaper; the curtains were replaced with a fresh pale sky blue with a tasteful leaf pattern; Fresh paint.Because of the cold weather, the new paint cracked due to the cold, so it had to be re-polished, painted, and finally dried in a room lit with several charcoal basins.

A few days before Vitali left the estate and returned to Charleville, Flaubert moved back to his room.

He is very satisfied with the newly decorated bedroom: everything is new. Although the bed is old, it has been repainted and is no different from the new bed; there are new-style oil paintings hanging on the wall, which are full of colors and make people feel happy joy.

The living room and study room downstairs have also been newly decorated. The new scene is eye-catching, and it seems that he has more creativity.

This is a good change, and the cost is not too big. He is very satisfied and feels that he will be able to write better works in the "new environment".

Vitaly got off the train at Charleville station.

Charles Cuve met her at the station. "Vitale!"

The petite girl is very eye-catching in the crowd at the train station, mainly because she is so beautifully dressed: a bright yellow Indian cotton dress, a fur-trimmed fedora hat with two half-bloomed cloth flowers .

"You are so beautiful!" Of course, the 19-year-old boy already knew that his cousin was a little beauty, and he was so stupid to think that he beat her just a few years ago!No matter what, he didn't dare to yell in front of her, and always had a cautious and ingratiating appearance.

Charles is ignorant and has an extremely limited vocabulary. He can only say "beautiful" and "good-looking" over and over again, and there is no wavering in his heart after listening to her a hundred times.

"Is uncle Roche or Charleville?"

"Uncle is in Luoshi Village." Charles took her suitcase.

"How's he doing? Is he still drinking so much?"

"My aunt often tells him not to let him drink too much. But he always doesn't listen."

"Has Uncle Charles been here lately?"

Speaking of father, Cousin Charles' expression darkened, and he said reluctantly, "I've been here."

Vitaly had nothing to say about this irresponsible uncle, and she didn't know why he was far away from home, preferring to work odd jobs instead of going home.Mrs. Rimbaud never said what happened to Charles, but based on a few words that Uncle Felix accidentally leaked, Vitaly guessed that Charles was cuckolded...

Men, generally have cuckold fear, the rural people are not pure at all, there are quite a few people who have a chaotic relationship between men and women, cheating on illegitimate children, not a fashionable thing for the nobles in the city, farmers who only earn a few hundred francs a year Peasant women still mess around whenever they get the chance, domestic violence is common, and sparring is also common.

When she was a child, Charles took her to peek at other couples fighting. She could fight from inside the house to the outside. Luoshi Village and nearby villages are not big. The whole village has a population of 1 to 200 people. There can be half of the people in the past to watch.It's never a big deal to watch the excitement, and the men will always shout "beat that stinky bitch to death".

So Uncle Charles was probably ashamed to stay in his hometown, leaving his wife and children behind.Shire's wife didn't want to stay and take care of the child in Luoshi Village, so she simply dropped the child and ran away.

The author has something to say: *The form of work that Vitaly mentioned is actually a senior buyer, art purchase agent.

* There are many biographies of Van Gogh, and biographers in the Netherlands, Britain, France and the United States have written his biographies.Owen Stone's "Van Gogh" is more like a biography; "Dear Theo" compiled by Theo's wife is a collection of letters from the two brothers of Van Gogh, and David Azio's "Van Gogh" is quite satisfactory biography.

There are also a lot of movies and TV shows about Van Gogh's life experience. Benedict Cumberbatch has acted in a biographical TV movie "Van Gogh: Painted with Words" (2010), so that I now think of Van Gogh. Gao's image was automatically brought into Comrade Benny.

The latest film about Van Gogh is "EternitysGate" (2017), filmed in 2018, with Willem Dafoe playing Van Gogh.But Van Gogh was only 37 years old when he died, Dafoe's age is not appropriate.The director let the 62-year-old Dafoe play the 37-year-old Van Gogh, and let the 38-year-old Oscar Isaac play the 42-year-old Paul Gauguin, I think it is impossible.Benny was 32 or 33 years old when he played Van Gogh, so I think it's okay.