But he could not forget the beautiful tropic islands of the Pacific he had seen on his voyages.One day he packed up again and sailed for the island of Tahiti.There in Tahiti the painter found the life he liked best.He lived like one of the native islanders instead of like a civilized white man.And there he painted his best pictures.
These paintings are bright with the color of the tropics and show in their brightness the people of the islands in their play and rest and work.These South Sea pictures are the ones that made Gauguin a famous painter.
MAHONA NO ATUA（《众神的节日》）GAUGUI N（高更作）Courtesy of The University Prints
【中文阅读】
“后”（post）印象主义和栅栏“柱”（post）毫无瓜葛。本章标题中的“后”
（post）是“在……后”的意思。Post 是个拉丁词。“后印象主义”指的是印象主义画派之后出现的一种更为新型的绘画流派。还记得莫奈的画是印象主义的吧？印象主义画派最重要的角色是光线。
保罗·塞尚是后印象主义画派的创始人。他和马奈和莫奈一样，都是法国人。塞尚一开始也是画印象主义的，但他说要使印象主义的画更具立体感，而且能够像古代大师的作品那样永存不朽。过了一段时间，虽然他的画没能像古代大师那样闻名，不过的的确确变得更具立体感了。塞尚一生都勤奋画画，直到去世后才成为一名受大家欢迎的画家。他在世时发现他的画根本就卖不出去，因为没人愿意买他的画。不过幸运的是，就算他卖不出画，他生活的钱还是够的。
另外一位后印象主义画家要比塞尚年轻一些，而且他的生活经历也完全不同。这位画家不像塞尚那样在法国南部的一个农场里过着平静的日子。他的名字叫文森特·梵高，他是一位荷兰人。他曾为了谋生，在一个画店打工。但是，如果他意识到有顾客想买一些低劣的画，就会忍不住训斥人家，所以他根本就不能与人好好相处。后来他又试着做了几个月的老师。但是，我认为他不可能成为一名优秀的老师，因为他脾气非常暴躁。再后来，他又决定去当牧师。这当然也行不通，因为他没过多久就厌倦了就读的那所培训传道人的学校。然后他就去给比利时的矿工们传教。他非常同情那些可怜的矿工们，于是把所有的钱都捐给了他们，自己却差点饿死。他也就是从那时候开始为那些他非常想帮助的人们画画的。
他弟弟寄钱给他维持生计，并资助他到巴黎学习绘画。之后，梵高到法国南部的一个小镇生活，他在那里画了许多画。
这些画都是由许多弯弯曲曲的线条构成，而不是像印象主义画派那样使用一个个小色块。梵高的一个朋友说；“他画画时动作实在太剧烈了，搞得我们都不敢看他。”他的画看上去好像是用全身气力来画的。
接下来要讲讲梵高一生中那段不幸的时刻。他后来渐渐丧失了理智，开始变得疯癫。他时常去的那家咖啡馆有个女招待跟他相识，有一天，这个女招待问他要一件礼物，她只是开玩笑地说：“如果你没有办法给我其他东西的话，就把你的一只大耳朵给我吧。”
快到圣诞节的时候，这位女招待收到了一个包裹。她原以为是一个圣诞节礼品，但她一打开包裹，竟掉下一只耳朵！女招待吓坏了。人们发现可怜的梵高躺在床上，神志不清，因为他用剃刀把自己的右耳割掉了。
毫无疑问，梵高必须被送进疯人院。他在疯人院待了一段时间后，病情有所好转，又画了一批画。但他的精神病总是不断地复发。后来，他在一次病情发作时，开枪自杀了。
第三位后印象主义画家名叫保罗·高更。他也是法国人，不过他与塞尚不同，他的经历几乎和梵高一样曲折离奇。
高更很早便开始过与众不同的生活。他还是个孩子的时候就离家出走了，乘坐一艘船去航海。作为一名水手，他到过世界许多不同的地方。后来，他回到了巴黎，开始经商。
如果高更没有离家出走去航海的话，他可能永远也不会成为一名画家。据说，有一天高更正沿着大街走，看到一家商店的橱窗里摆了几幅画。这些画的颜色都很明亮，跟他在遥远的太平洋岛屿上看到的颜色一样鲜艳。这些画深深唤起了高更航海的记忆，于是他立马打听到创作这些画的画家是谁。就这样，高更结识了创作这些画的后印象主义画家。接着，高更自己也开始画画。他跟梵高交了朋友，他甚至在梵高失去理智前还同这位画家一起生活过一段时间，后来就搬到法国另一个地区去了。
然而，高更一直对他航海时所看到的美丽太平洋热带岛屿无法忘怀。于是，有一天，他再次收拾行囊，航行到了塔希提岛。在那里画家找到了他自己最喜欢的那种生活。他像岛上的土著人一样生活，完全不像一个受过文明教育的白人。他在塔希提岛画出了他最好的画。
这批画的颜色都非常绚丽，极具热带风情，向我们展示了岛上人娱乐、休息和工作时的场景。这批南太平洋绘画使高更一举成名。
EARLY AMERICANS
早期美国画家
NOW we come to painting in America.I’ll have to tell you right at the beginning that there is much more American painting，and that there are many more American artists，than I have room to tell you about in this book.America has had artists since before the American Revolution and to-day we have as many good painters at work as any country in the world—perhaps more.
The first American artist to become really famous was Benjamin West.Benjamin West’s family lived in Pennsylvania when the woods were still full of Indians.There he was born and there he grew up.As his family were Quakers，the Indians were friendly to them，for the Quakers had made a treaty with the Indians to buy their land from them instead of just taking it by force or by cheating.
When Benjamin West was a boy he loved to draw pictures.The Indians were pleased when he drew pictures of them.Of course he didn’t have any paints or paint brushes nor even any pictures to look at.There weren’t such things in the little frontier village where he lived.So the boy was delighted one day when the Indians gave him some of the yellow and red paint that they used to paint their faces with.Benjamin ran home and showed the paints to his mother.Then his mother gave him some bluing which she used in washing clothes.Now he had yellow，red and blue paint，but no paint brushes.How do you think he got a brush？He used the cat！
Yes，he cut some hairs off the cat’s tail and made them into a paint brush.When the first brush wore out，he got some more hairs from the cat.After a while the poor cat had hardly any hair left on her tail and was beginning to look very ragged in other places.Benjamin’s father thought the cat had the mange.
When Benjamin West grew up he went to live in Philadelphia，and there he worked hard to become a good painter.Then he decided to go to Europe where he could see and study famous paintings.When he reached Rome he was taken to see a statue of a Greek god called the Apollo Belvedere.（See the picture NO.39-1in Chapter 39）“It looks like a Mohawk warrior，”he said，thinking of the strong and graceful Indian braves of Pennsylvania.
West then went to England and settled in London.He became a very popular painter.The king，George III，liked him and his work so much that he made him court painter.
And so Benjamin West never returned to America.But he always welcomed American artists who came to London and was very generous and helpful to them.In fact，his studio was a kind of school for young men learning to paint，and many well-known American painters studied there.He was like a father to them all.
West’s pictures often were very large and generally were filled with many figures，though some were smaller portraits.They were admired by every one and some people even said they promised to be as great as the paintings of Michelangelo.Nowadays we think West’s paintings are not really very great paintings，but isn’t it pleasant to hear of an artist’s pictures being so well thought of while he was alive，and could enjoy their success？Many painters have had to struggle all their days as nobodies，with their pictures not admired until after those painters died，so that I’m glad the opposite happened to this painter.