Loneliness, for everyone, may be a part of life. What insight would you have about solitude? Enjoy it? Fear? Or maybe disgusted? Artists often suffer from solitude and enjoy it, and most of the masters of art have lived a solitary life.

Balzac said, "Among all kinds of solitude, man fears spiritual solitude the most." Perhaps the greatest artists are often lonely, but if the great journey becomes a lost journey for the lonely, how happy is the stroller who picks up his bag and travels alone? The meaning of death is unknown, and this unknown should not be actively explored by anyone.

But there are many artists who do. We grieve for their search, and for their solitude.

Mark Rothko: Art was a lonely path when I was young

Mark Rothko

Once color goes beyond the possibilities of pigmentation

it reveals the world of one's actions that

involves a specific time, a specific event,

and how he interrogates time and events.

My color is an empirical color.

It has to do with the light of a certain day.

It has to do with the state of mind of the whole person.

-- Mark Rothko

Works by Mark Rothko

"When I was young art was a lonely road, no galleries, no collectors, no critics, no money. But it was a golden age, because we all had nothing, and we were able to pursue our ideals with more recklessness. I'm afraid I'm not qualified to comment on which is better for the world. But I do know that many people are living this life uncontrollably, desperately in need of a quiet space where we can take root and grow. We have to live with the hope that we will surely find it." This is what Rothko told visitors to his studio in 1955, "I could show my paintings in a hundred places. But I don't make any money. I could give lectures. But they don't pay for lectures. I've been written that I can't even make $1,300 a year exhibiting my work everywhere." The great fame and wealth that Mark Rothko won after his death is in stark contrast to the hardships, anxieties and struggles of his life.

Works by Mark Rothko

Abstract artist Mark Rothko has made his reputation largely through his famous color field paintings. These works have been widely acclaimed for their use of color to evoke emotional resonance. But Rothko disdains such criticism, wanting to be seen as a painter rather than a scribbler of color. He was concerned only with emotional expression, "not with the relationship between colors, not with the form of expression, and not with anything else.

Mark Rothko

Late in his life, his painting style tended to be flat and desperate, as if he was trying to overturn his previous social reputation. "The Black Paintings, his last group of paintings, mostly consist of a black and gray canvas, horizontally divided between black and gray, with a thin wooden panel in the middle. Rothko himself describes the subject of these paintings as "death. Suffering first from separation from his wife and then from severe depression, Rothko committed suicide in 1970 by slitting his wrists in his New York studio.

Van Gogh: the "madman" who did not speak to anyone

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait

"I venture, not by active choice, but driven by fate." --Van Gogh

Van Gogh's Self-Portrait

In February 1888, Van Gogh left the hustle and bustle of the city and traveled alone to the fields of southern France. He reveled in the blazing sunlight and the endless fields. Rumor has it that in these fields Van Gogh never wore a hat, his eyes glowed with enthusiasm, and he never spoke to anyone he met. In the evening, his eyes were like holes in a fire that had burned out, the top of his head was red, the few hairs on his head were standing on end, and he carried a canvas under his armpits that had not yet dried. When people saw him, they were talking to each other: "This madman is here again!"

Van Gogh's Works

The ominous and unforgettable painting "The Rye Crow" is often mistakenly thought to be Van Gogh's last work. Although it is indeed one of Van Gogh's greatest works, a study of his letters to other painters reveals that The Rye Crow was completed two weeks before his death in July 1890. This means that The Garden of Dupioni was probably his last painting. The painting depicts the large garden of Charles-Francois Daubigny, a painter whom Van Gogh deeply admired. The gloomy "Flock of Wheat Crows" stands in stark contrast to the idyllic life of the garden, suggesting that Van Gogh was suffering from mental anguish.

The Dupioni Garden

A Field of Wheat with Crows

Early in the morning of July 27, 1890, Van Gogh went out to sketch with a loaded pistol. He shot himself, but was unsuccessful, and died two days later at the age of 37 at his brother's home. Van Gogh never enjoyed any fame or fortune during his lifetime, and it was his mother who eventually took care of much of the work for the tragic man.

Constance Mayer: Ending life with a lover's razor

Mayer's work: "Les Misérables

The relationship between Constance Mayer and Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was a sensation in the art world. Prud'hon's soft and sensual painting style was a harbinger of the Romantic movement, and his major works include The Rape of the Heart, Justice and Vengeance for the Punishment of Sin, and Portrait of Queen Josephine.

Mayer met Proudhon in 1803, although Proudhon already had a wife, but the marriage was uneasy, and his wife eventually died in a mental hospital. At the time, Proudhon was a renowned French painter and Meier was a budding young artist, and they soon began to paint together, and it is said that there was no trace of articulation in the same painting that could be seen by the outside world. Proudhon preferred sketching to painting, so he was always responsible for outlining the painting, while Melle did the oil part. At that time, Proudhon was more famous (and he was a man), so the paintings were often sold under his name alone. Some people would even remove Meyler's name and leave Proudhon's name alone in order to get a good price for the paintings.

Proudhon's Self-Portrait

It is said that Proudhon had vowed before his wife's death that he would not renew his marriage, which made Constance very melancholy. Others say that the government's expropriation of Constance's studio at the Sorbonne put her in danger. In any case, on May 26, 1821, Maire chose to end her life with Proudhon's razor. In grief and despair, Proudhon died two years later, but was unable to complete their final collaborative painting, a portrait of a tragic family.

John Minton: The Last Work is about Death

The painter and illustrator John Minton committed suicide in January 1957, leaving his last work unfinished. This painting depicts a severely injured man surrounded by a crowd of deranged bystanders. The day before Minton's death, painter Ruskin Spear visited him in his studio and was told that the dying man in the painting was Hollywood actor James Dean, who had died in a car accident two years earlier at the age of 24.

Spear believes that James Dean's death represents an encounter of a younger generation, highly relevant to Minton. However, the true identity of the deceased is disputed. Apparently, the painting was directly inspired by a similar car accident that Minton witnessed in Barcelona and later thought to be similar to Dean. Minton's suicide was the result of the rise of abstract art that hindered the popularity of his work and contributed to an internal depression and loss of self-confidence. The work was unfinished, but indications are that he did not intend to complete it further. He told friends he feared his paintings would become the work of another Johnny Minton.

Xu Wei: 9 suicides without dying

Xu Wei's Portrait

Xu Wei (1521-1593) was a famous literary scholar and calligrapher of the Ming Dynasty. He served as a member of Hu Zongxian's staff and helped him capture Xu Hai and lure Wang Zhi. After Hu Zongxian was imprisoned, Xu Wei committed suicide nine times in a frenzy of fear, but did not die. After being imprisoned for seven years, he was saved by Zhang Yuanzhong and other friends. After that, he traveled south to Jinling and north to the upper valley, looking at the border and the perfume, and often sang generously.

Xu Wei, ink and watercolor on paper, 124.8cm x 31.8cm, National Palace Collection, Taipei

Xu Wei committed suicide in a horrifying manner, using a sharp axe to break his skull, "the blood flowed on his face, his skull was broken, and there was a sound when he rubbed it", and he "used a sharp awl to cone into both ears, penetrating an inch deep, but he could not die".

Scroll with Four Sections of Mixed Flowers (partial) Ink on Paper, Collection of the Palace Museum

Xu Wei was born into a family of officials and eunuchs. He was averse to associating with dignitaries and his best friend was Zhang Yuanxin. After Zhang Yuanxin's death, he almost closed his door and thanked his guests. It is said that when Xu Wei did not want to see a visitor, he pushed the door and shouted, "Xu Wei is not here!" He did not rule his property all his life, and his money was scattered with his hands, so he had to live by selling his paintings and calligraphy. But with a little more money in hand, he refused to do it again. Instead, a group of disciples and friends of the younger generation, either cheating or robbing, often got his masterpieces. Xu Wei seems to have been particularly fond of crabs, and many of his inscribed poems record how his friends traded live crabs for his paintings. In the last few years, Xu Wei suffered from many diseases and could not paint as often as he would have liked.

Xu Wei died in the twenty-first year of the Wanli reign at the age of seventy-three, with only a dog by his side.

Nicolas de Staël: A work that could not be completed

Faced with one object, I would be disturbed by the infinite overlapping relationship of other objects at the same time. So I tried to paint some simpler shapes to find a free expression.

-- Nicolas de Staël

Nicolas de Staël was a creative French abstractionist who produced thousands of paintings and drawings during his short career. In the last five months of his life, he produced 147 paintings, and his last work during his lifetime was most likely "Blue Nude", completed in 1955. In March of that year, he committed suicide by jumping off a building in Antibes, leaving behind his last unfinished work, "Concert", at the age of 41.

Nicolas de Staël: The Concert

The Concert, de Staël's most iconic work, is 6 meters (20 feet) long and 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) wide. In the painting, there is a grand piano and double bass on the floor sprinkled with sheet music, reflecting the need to leave both instruments on the stage until the concert is over. De Staël was so encouraged by a concert that he immediately went home and worked on it all day and all night until the light would not allow him to continue painting. He burned all his sketches and jumped to his death. Before he died, he wrote: "I was unable to finish the work.

They are the geniuses, the protagonists of tragedy, an artist who, when he fights with his life's energy, reveals the opposite of his will, and the world is tragic, thus giving rise to the fundamental problem of art. When an artist puts himself in a desperate situation because he is in opposition to society, it represents a tragedy on the one hand, and at the same time, it is the ultimate expression of his genius and energy. For this reason, tragedies can be said to be the embodiment of energy and genius. What they bring to us is to give us the inspiration to be happy and brave to survive.

版权声明：【除原创作品外，本平台所使用的文章、图片、视频及音乐属于原权利人所有，因客观原因，或会存在不当使用的情况，如，部分文章或文章部分引用内容未能及时与原作者取得联系，或作者名称及原始出处标注错误等情况，非恶意侵犯原权利人相关权益，敬请相关权利人谅解并与我们联系及时处理，共同维护良好的网络创作环境，联系邮箱：603971995@qq.com】