Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 181: Holy Spring (7)

Chapter 181 Holy Spring (7)

Michelle Platini let out a long sigh after finishing the meeting related to the Art Nouveau competition.

Her secretary Victor felt sorry for Michelle Platini, who had been working tirelessly for the past month, but also admired her for striving for the worlds largest competition.

Michelle got into the car and leaned back on the sofa.

Youve worked hard.

Hard work is

Did you make any progress today?

No. I cant be sure.

The Art Nouveau competition committee had to encourage the visitors to appreciate all the works.

The judges would have to check all the works as a duty, but the general visitors could not spend that long time to appreciate the works.

As the selection was decided by voting, the organizers had to care about the exposure of the works.

The conclusion was impossible.

It was impossible to exhibit more than 1,700 works under equal conditions, so the discussion continued.

I think your approach is right, Director.

Michelle chuckled at Victors encouragement.

Technically, all the visitors are judges. They should have a sense of mission as the protagonists who choose the new art.

Mission.

Michelle closed her eyes and pondered.

Its not wrong, but I dont want to burden them with such grandiose emotions. I just want to let them know how precious they are to the art world.

She decided that if she could not exhibit all the works under equal conditions, she had to make the visitors find them by themselves.

They needed to be made aware that they were the main actors who changed the flow of the art world.

It cant be done in one way.

Victor nodded.

He trusted Michelle Platini and agreed with her intention, but her wish was not an easy one.

It might even be impossible.

Impossible, but to be pursued.

They need to be aware of being judges. Their choices will determine which artists will be highlighted in the future.

What if they dont feel interested?

Thats up to the artists.

It was the curators role to create a perfect route and environment for the works to be focused on.

But if the works did not shake the hearts of the people, no plan would matter.

Its hard.

Michelle smiled at Victors words.

We have to do it even if its hard.

She clenched her hand holding the proposal.

Soon after arriving at the Marso Gallery, she saw Vida Ravani watering the flower bed.

Director!

Vida Ravani bowed his head. Michelles mood improved with the brightened face of the boy.

How is it? Can you do it?

Yes! But

Hmm?

Im worried because its getting cold.

Theyll grow again when it gets warm.

Still

Vida Ravani said as he looked around the garden.

When winter came, the flowers he had carefully tended would wither, and he wouldnt be able to keep watering the garden.

Michelle felt sorry for the boy, understanding what he was worried about.

She knew how precious the 10 euros he earned by working an hour a day was to the boy who couldnt afford a proper meal at his growing age.

Would you like to guide people inside in the winter? We need someone to take umbrellas or clear snow.

Oh, yes! Just tell me what to do!

Are you okay with working longer than now?

Im fine!

He was admirable for not losing his cheerfulness.

Lets see. Ill have to pay you 60 euros a day if you work for six hours.

Vida Ravani opened his mouth wide.

His eyes, bright with excitement, trembled.

You dont have to pay me that much.

If I dont, Ill get arrested. Its the law.

Vida Ravani, who had been looking up at Michelle Platini, bowed his waist and greeted her.

Thank you. Thank you.

What for? Youre earning what you worked for.

Youre the only one who cares for someone like me.

Michelle frowned.

Dont say that. Someone like me.

Oh. Im sorry.

He apologized with a word that hurt her heart, even though he had done nothing wrong.

She didnt misunderstand the hatred of Muslims by the French people who were enraged by the brutal terrorist acts of the Islamists.

Even Michelle herself thought that Muslims should be excluded from French society.

But she couldnt understand why this young boy had to suffer without eating or dressing properly.

Lacit.

France had strictly separated politics and religion.

It allowed freedom of activity for all religions, including Islam, but it was a philosophy that religion should not interfere with political activities.

Most French people, including Michelle, thought that the long conflict that lasted for 80 years would not have happened if the Muslims had not insisted on wearing hijabs in official places, places that had political influence.

I heard you work diligently. Its amazing that you work hard at your age.

The boy bowed his head shyly and scratched his head.

I have to work hard.

Youre doing well now.

Vida Ravani took out a small sketchbook from his bag.

They were all drawings of the Guardian of Liberty in the Bastille Square.

They were crude, but the same picture was repeated and it improved a little bit in the process.

You drew a picture.

Yes. Marso said that I have to draw ten thousand to draw properly.

Marso?

Vida Ravani nodded.

I calculated it and a 13-page sketchbook was 1 euro. I think I can draw about 20 pages if I save pastels. I thought I could draw ten thousand if I had about 2,000 euros

He was not worried about how to draw ten thousand, but how much he needed to draw them.

How naive and innocent he was to take Henri Marsos words literally and try to draw the same thing ten thousand times.

Michelle was speechless.

So I thought I could do it in 200 days if I got 10 euros a day, but youre giving me 60 euros. Then. Then I can draw other things too.

Vida Ravani smiled.

I thought there was no such thing as a miracle. Its a lie. Thank you. Thank you.

Michelle looked at Vida Ravanis crude drawings and asked.

Do you want to be a painter?

No. How can I?

Then?

Just. Hmm.

Michelle Platini recalled what Henri Marso used to say.

He said that those who want to be painters can never be painters, and only those who draw can leave great works.

He said something similar when he scolded Jerome Kerbiel.

Its not a lie.

Michelle handed the sketchbook back to Vida Ravani and said.

Do you know what a miracle is?

The boy shook his head.

It actually happens.

Yes?

Its a word made to refer to something impossible that really happens. So a miracle is not a lie. Its something that happens.

The boy opened his mouth slightly.

Youll be a great painter.

***

I paid 20 euros and entered the Secession1.

I took a leaflet and walked to the stairs leading down to the basement, where there was a small model of the Secession.

It looked like there were several rooms underground.

On the wall next to it, there was a text introducing the Secession with photos.

I didnt need to read it myself since I had heard enough explanation from my grandfather.

There was Gustav Klimts name on the stairs.

Gustav Klimt

Beethovenfrieze(1902)

As we went down the stairs, my grandfather told me about the day when the Beethoven Frieze was first exhibited.

It was the 14th Secession Exhibition.

It was the exhibition that Henri Marso said 58,000 people visited.

Gustav Mahler conducted Beethovens Ninth Symphony here. It was a total art.

It was interesting that a conductor with the same name as Klimt conducted Beethoven.

I could listen to the actual performance and see Klimts Beethoven Frieze.

It sounds amazing.

We turned to the left aisle and finally saw Klimts mural.

It was high.

There was a bench in the middle of a wide and long room, and the mural was painted on the upper part of the wall.

It was so high that even if my grandfather gave me a piggyback ride, I wouldnt be able to reach the bottom of the picture.

My grandfather headed to the left wall.

I saw naked men and women with clenched fists facing a knight in golden armor.

The skinny ones looked like they were asking something of the knight.

On the other hand, the two women behind the golden armor were peaceful and gentle.

Klimts unique pattern caught my eye.

Look at the knights face carefully.

I moved my eyes at my grandfathers words.

Doesnt he look like Beethoven?

Now that I think about it, he does.

Maybe Klimt portrayed Beethoven as a superhuman figure who would deliver hope to those naked and wretched people.

He called it the longing for happiness.

<The longing for happiness>.

I think I get it.

My grandfather moved his feet and faced the front wall. Thanks to the piggyback ride, I could move my eyes as my grandfather intended.

It was comfortable.

He titled it the hostile forces.

It seemed like a picture of the beings that the knight in golden armor had to face.

The woman on the left symbolizes disease, madness, and death.

She must have meant the Gorgon sisters.

They are called Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, but you dont have to know their names.

They are usually depicted as ugly monsters, but Klimt mixed strangeness and beauty appropriately.

The monkey-like thing in the middle is Typhon. He has a human upper body and a snake lower body, and he has a hundred snakes on his shoulders and arms. He is the strongest monster in Greek mythology.

Typhoeus.

He was a monster that even Zeus barely defeated.

As my grandfather said, his upper body was human, but he drew it like a gorilla.

The red-haired woman on the right is desire, the blonde is impurity, and the pregnant woman is uncontrolled mind.

To sum up, they are disease, madness, death, desire, impurity, and uncontrol.

He also drew Typhon, who symbolized violent force, so it was clear how huge the enemy that the knight in golden armor, Beethoven, had to fight was.

An individual is too powerless in front of the countless hardships that he faces in his life.

Poverty.

Disease.

He is bound to be frustrated and frustrated again in front of the invincible giant force.

Like me at that time.

But, but Beethoven stands up proudly.

Beethovens Ninth Symphony, which resonated here a hundred years ago, says that there will be hope at the end of the long ordeal.

He will find hope at the end of the painful and lonely fight, as the holy voice that shouts joy leads him.

Now, this is the kiss to the whole world.

<The kiss to the whole world>.

Is there such a warm person again?

Is there such a romantic work again?

A hymn of hope that says that someday glory will shine on you, no matter what trials hurt you.

The holy message that the great musician shouted out was reproduced by Klimt.

*****

1. Secession admission fee as of 2021.

Adults 9.5 euros (8 euros for groups of 8 or more).

Primary school students and students under 26, over 65 6 euros (4.5 euros for groups of 8 or more).

Children under 10 free.