I'm going to tell you about an affliction I suffer from. And I have a funny feeling that quite a few of you suffer from it as well. When I'm walking around an art gallery, rooms and rooms full of paintings, after about 15 or 20 minutes, I realize I'm not thinking about the paintings. I'm not connecting to them. Instead, I'm thinking about that cup of coffee I desperately need to wake me up. I'm suffering from gallery fatigue.
讓我告訴各位一件我很苦惱的事 而且直覺告訴我,這裡不少人 跟我一樣有這種苦惱 當我在畫廊看畫的時候 走過一間又一間滿是畫作的房間 看了15到20分鐘後 我領悟到我其實沒有在看畫 我對這些畫一點感覺也沒有 我腦袋裡想著的其實是咖啡 我亟需讓自己清醒 我的苦惱就是畫廊困倦症
How many of you out there suffer from -- yes. Ha ha, ha ha! Now, sometimes you might last longer than 20 minutes, or even shorter, but I think we all suffer from it. And do you have the accompanying guilt? For me, I look at the paintings on the wall and I think, somebody has decided to put them there, thinks they're good enough to be on that wall, but I don't always see it. In fact, most of the time I don't see it.
這裡有多少人也有這種苦惱? 是吧!哈哈哈哈! 那麼,有時候大概可以撐 超過20分鐘,有時甚至撐不了那麼久 但我想我們都有著這種苦惱 那你會伴隨著愧疚的感覺嗎? 對我來說,當我看著牆上的畫作 我想,某個人決定要把這些畫掛在牆上 想著,這些畫是値得掛出來的 但我不見得看得懂好在哪裡 事實上,絕大部分時間我都看不懂
And I leave feeling actually unhappy. I feel guilty and unhappy with myself, rather than thinking there's something wrong with the painting, I think there's something wrong with me. And that's not a good experience, to leave a gallery like that.
所以我離開畫廊時很不開心 我自覺內疚,不快樂 我認為我看不懂是因為我有問題 而不是這些畫有問題 所以像這樣離開畫廊的經驗很差
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
The thing is, I think we should give ourselves a break. If you think about going into a restaurant, when you look at the menu, are you expected to order every single thing on the menu? No! You select. If you go into a department store to buy a shirt, are you going to try on every single shirt and want every single shirt? Of course not, you can be selective. It's expected. How come, then, it's not so expected to be selective when we go to an art gallery? Why are we supposed to have a connection with every single painting?
我認為我們應該對自己好一點 你想,如果你去了一家餐廳 當你看菜單的時候,你會想去點 菜單上的每一道菜嗎? 不會!你會選菜 如果你去百貨公司買襯衫 你會試穿店裡的每一件襯衫嗎? 而且每一件都買嗎? 當然不會!你有所選擇,本應如此 那爲什麼不行在 畫廊裡選擇性地看畫呢? 憑什麼我們對每一幅畫都要有感覺?
Well I'm trying to take a different approach. And there's two things I do: When I go into a gallery, first of all, I go quite fast, and I look at everything, and I pinpoint the ones that make me slow down for some reason or other. I don't even know why they make me slow down, but something pulls me like a magnet and then I ignore all the others, and I just go to that painting. So it's the first thing I do is, I do my own curation. I choose a painting. It might just be one painting in 50. And then the second thing I do is I stand in front of that painting, and I tell myself a story about it.
所以我試著用不同的方法 我做兩件事 我去畫廊的時候 我很快地先把畫廊走一遍 把所有的畫都瀏覽一下 然後我選出幾幅 因為某些因素讓我想慢慢看的畫 我甚至不知道為什麼這些畫吸引我佇足 但是他們像磁鐵般吸住我的目光 然後我不再回顧其他的畫 就直接走去那幅我想看的 所以這是我先做的事 自己當博物館館長 我先選一幅畫,可能是50選一 然後第二件事是我站在那幅畫前 自己編一個有關這畫的故事
Why a story? Well, I think that we are wired, our DNA tells us to tell stories. We tell stories all the time about everything, and I think we do it because the world is kind of a crazy, chaotic place, and sometimes stories, we're trying to make sense of the world a little bit, trying to bring some order to it. Why not apply that to our looking at paintings? So I now have this sort of restaurant menu visiting of art galleries.
為什麼是一個故事?嗯,我想這是天生的 我們的DNA告訴我們要講故事 我們總是拿各式題材說故事 我認為我們之所以這麼做 是因為這是個瘋狂混亂的世界 有時候我們用故事來讓這個世界更合理一點 試著在混亂中找秩序 為什麼不在看畫時如法炮製呢? 所以現在我就像在餐廳裡選菜一般 選畫廊裡的畫
There are three paintings I'm going to show you now that are paintings that made me stop in my tracks and want to tell stories about them. The first one needs little introduction -- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer, 17th-century Dutch painter. This is the most glorious painting. I first saw it when I was 19, and I immediately went out and got a poster of it, and in fact I still have that poster. 30 years later it's hanging in my house. It's accompanied me everywhere I've gone, I never tire of looking at her.
接下來我要展示三幅畫 這些畫讓我駐足良久 想對人訴說他們的故事 第一幅需要解釋一下它的背景 揚‧維梅爾的「戴珍珠耳環的女孩」 他是十七世紀的荷蘭畫家 這是最棒的一幅 我第一次看到這幅畫是十九歲 後來我馬上就去買了一張它的海報 其實我仍保留著那張海報 30年後我還把它掛在家裡 我搬到哪裡都要帶著它 總是百看不厭
What made me stop in my tracks about her to begin with was just the gorgeous colors he uses and the light falling on her face. But I think what's kept me still coming back year after year is another thing, and that is the look on her face, the conflicted look on her face. I can't tell if she's happy or sad, and I change my mind all the time. So that keeps me coming back.
一開始讓我在畫廊佇足欣賞這幅畫的理由 只是因為他用了好漂亮的顏色 還有那映照在她臉上的光影 但是我想會讓我年復一年的回來看這幅畫 一定有另外的原因 那就是她臉上的表情,充滿矛盾的表情 我不知道她是快樂還是悲傷 我每次看都有不同的結論 所以這讓我一直回來看這幅畫
One day, 16 years after I had this poster on my wall, I lay in bed and looked at her, and I suddenly thought, I wonder what the painter did to her to make her look like that. And it was the first time I'd ever thought that the expression on her face is actually reflecting how she feels about him. Always before I'd thought of it as a portrait of a girl. Now I began to think of it as a portrait of a relationship. And I thought, well, what is that relationship?
在我買了那張海報16年後的某一天 我躺在床上看著她 我突然想著,到底 畫家對她做了什麼 使她有那樣的表情 這是我第一次思考到 她臉上的表情其實反映了 她對畫家的感情 在那之前,我僅僅把它視為一幅女孩的肖像 現在我開始認為它在描繪一段關係 然後我就想,喔,那這是段什麼樣的關係?
So I went to find out. I did some research and discovered, we have no idea who she is. In fact, we don't know who any of the models in any of Vermeer's paintings are, and we know very little about Vermeer himself. Which made me go, "Yippee!" I can do whatever I want, I can come up with whatever story I want to.
所以我就開始找答案,我發現 我們對她一無所知 事實上,我們對維梅爾畫作裡的模特兒 都一無所知 我們對維梅爾本身的瞭解也不多 這讓我大呼,「妙極了!」 我可以盡情發揮編造出各式各樣的故事
So here's how I came up with the story. First of all, I thought, I've got to get her into the house. How does Vermeer know her? Well, there've been suggestions that she is his 12-year-old daughter. The daughter at the time was 12 when he painted the painting. And I thought, no, it's a very intimate look, but it's not a look a daughter gives her father. For one thing, in Dutch painting of the time, if a woman's mouth was open, it was indicating sexual availability. It would have been inappropriate for Vermeer to paint his daughter like that.
所以以下就是我編的故事 首先我認為 我要想辦法讓她進到房子裡面 維梅爾是如何認識她的呢? 嗯,有人是這麼說的: 她是他12歲的女兒 他的女兒在他畫這幅畫時的確是12歲 然後我想,不對,這個表情的確很親密 卻不是女兒看父親的那種親密 有件事情該提一下,在當時荷蘭的畫風是 如果女模特兒的嘴巴張開,表示性引誘 對維梅爾而言, 把女兒畫成那樣 的確很不妥當
So it's not his daughter, but it's somebody close to him, physically close to him. Well, who else would be in the house? A servant, a lovely servant. So, she's in the house. How do we get her into the studio? We don't know very much about Vermeer, but the little bits that we do know, one thing we know is that he married a Catholic woman, they lived with her mother in a house where he had his own room where he -- his studio. He also had 11 children. It would have been a chaotic, noisy household. And if you've seen Vermeer's paintings before, you know that they're incredibly calm and quiet.
所以這不是他的女兒,而是一個 與他關係很親近,肉體關係很近的人 還有誰可能在他的宅邸內呢? 僕人,一個漂亮的僕人 所以,她在房子裡 那要如何讓她進到畫室裡呢? 我們對維梅爾真的瞭解不多 但就我們所知的那一點點,有一件事我們的確知道 就是他與一位天主教女士結婚,他們與岳母同住在 一間有他專屬的房間的屋子裡 有他自己的畫室。他還有11個小孩 這個房子大概很亂很吵吧 如果你看過維梅爾的畫 你會發現這些畫表現出不可思議的恬靜安詳
How does a painter paint such calm, quiet paintings with 11 kids around? Well, he compartmentalizes his life. He gets to his studio, and he says, "Nobody comes in here. Not the wife, not the kids. Okay, the maid can come in and clean." She's in the studio. He's got her in the studio, they're together. And he decides to paint her.
一個畫家如何在有11個小孩圍繞的情況下 畫出如此恬靜安詳的畫? 他把他的生活分成好幾部分 他到了畫室,他會說:「沒有人可以進來這裡。」 「太太不能,小孩也不能,好吧!女僕可以進來打掃。」 女僕進到了畫室,他把她引進了畫室,他們在一起 然後他決定畫一張她的肖樣
He has her wear very plain clothes. Now, all of the women, or most of the women in Vermeer's other paintings wore velvet, silk, fur, very sumptuous materials. This is very plain; the only thing that isn't plain is her pearl earring. Now, if she's a servant, there is no way she could afford a pair of pearl earrings. So those are not her pearl earrings. Whose are they? We happen to know, there's a list of Catharina, the wife's clothes. Amongst them a yellow coat with white fur, a yellow and black bodice, and you see these clothes on lots of other paintings, different women in the paintings, Vermeer's paintings. So clearly, her clothes were lent to various different women. It's not such a leap of faith to take that that pearl earring actually belongs to his wife.
他讓她穿上非常普通的衣服。 所有維梅爾畫裡的女人,或者是大部分的女人 都穿著以非常昂貴的絨、絲、毛皮材質所做的衣服 而這件衣服非常普通,整張畫裡唯一上得了台面的 是她的珍珠耳環 如果她是女僕,她不可能買得起 這樣一對珍珠耳環 所以這對耳環不是她的,那是誰的? 剛好我們知道他太太凱薩琳娜的衣服清單中 有一件帶有白色皮毛的黃大衣 一件黃黑兩色的緊身馬甲 你在他其他的畫作裡都看得到這些衣服 維梅爾的畫作裡不同的女人穿著這些衣服 所以很顯然,她的衣服借給不同的女人穿 所以如果說這女孩拿了他太太的耳環來戴 也不是太不可思議的解釋吧
So we've got all the elements for our story. She's in the studio with him for a long time. These paintings took a long time to make. They would have spent the time alone, all that time. She's wearing his wife's pearl earring. She's gorgeous. She obviously loves him. She's conflicted. And does the wife know? Maybe not. And if she doesn't, well -- that's the story.
所以我們把故事的重要元素都湊齊了 她與他在畫室裡獨處很長一段時間 這些畫要花很久時間來完成 他們可能經常獨處很長一段時間 她戴著他太太的珍珠耳環 她很迷人,她顯然愛著他,但她也很矛盾 他太太知道嗎?大概不知道吧 如果她不知道,嗯...... 故事就這麼寫下去了
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
The next painting I'm going to talk about is called "Boy Building a House of Cards" by Chardin. He's an 18th-century French painter best known for his still lifes, but he did occasionally paint people. And in fact, he painted four versions of this painting, different boys building houses of cards, all concentrated. I like this version the best, because some of the boys are older and some are younger, and to me, this one, like Goldilocks's porridge, is just right.
下一幅畫我要談一談 夏丹的「堆卡片的男孩」 他是18世紀法國畫家,以靜物畫出名 不過他偶爾也會畫人像 事實上,這幅畫他畫了四個版本 不同版本裡的男孩都很專心地堆疊著 我最喜歡這個版本,因為其他版本的男孩 不是太老就是太年輕。對我而言,這個 就像金髮小女孩的麥片粥(英語繪本童話)一樣,剛剛好
He's not quite a child, and he's not quite a man. He's absolutely balanced between innocence and experience, and that made me stop in my tracks in front of this painting. And I looked at his face. It's like a Vermeer painting a bit. The light comes in from the left, his face is bathed in this glowing light. It's right in the center of the painting, and you look at it, and I found that when I was looking at it, I was standing there going, "Look at me. Please look at me." And he didn't look at me. He was still looking at his cards, and that's one of the seductive elements of this painting is, he's so focused on what he's doing that he doesn't look at us. And that is, to me, the sign of a masterpiece, of a painting when there's a lack of resolution. He's never going to look at me.
他不太像是個小孩,卻又還不能算是個大人 他的樣子恰好展現出純真與老成間的平衡 這讓我佇足在這幅畫前觀賞 我看著他的臉,有點像維梅爾的畫 他的臉沈浸在從左邊照過來的光線中 他就在這幅畫的中央 而且你看,我發現當我看著他 我居然站在那裡說著 看我!請看看我! 但他沒有看我,他還是看著他的卡片 這就是這幅畫的誘人的要素之一 他是如此專心在手上的工作以致於看都不看我們一眼 這對我而言,是一幅畫的傑作的象徵 尤其是當我們對這幅畫缺乏解答的時候 他永遠都不會看我一眼
So I was thinking of a story where, if I'm in this position, who could be there looking at him? Not the painter, I don't want to think about the painter. I'm thinking of an older version of himself. He's a man, a servant, an older servant looking at this younger servant, saying, "Look at me. I want to warn you about what you're about to go through. Please look at me." And he never does.
所以我構思了一個故事 如果我是那個小男孩,誰會在那裡看我? 不是這位畫家,我不想去想這位畫家 我想的是這個男孩的大人版 一個成年僕人,一個凝視著年輕一點的僕人的老一點的僕人 說著:「看看我。我要警告你 你將要經歷的人生。 請看看我。」 但他並沒有因為這樣就看著他
And that lack of resolution, the lack of resolution in "Girl with a Pearl Earring" -- we don't know if she's happy or sad. I've written an entire novel about her, and I still don't know if she's happy or sad. Again and again, back to the painting, looking for the answer, looking for the story to fill in that gap. And we may make a story, and it satisfies us momentarily, but not really, and we come back again and again.
這種無解的感覺,就像「戴珍珠的女孩」那種無解的感覺 我們不知道她是喜還是悲 即使我已針對她寫了一整本小說 我仍然不知道她是喜還是悲 我一次又一次地回去看這幅畫 想找出答案,想找個故事來解釋這個缺口 我們當然可以編個故事來暫時滿足自己 但卻沒有達到我們想要的效果,所以我們一次又一次地回來看
The last painting I'm going to talk about is called "Anonymous" by anonymous. (Laughter)
我要談的最後一幅畫 叫做「無名氏 」,畫家也是「無名氏 」(笑聲)
This is a Tudor portrait bought by the National Portrait Gallery. They thought it was a man named Sir Thomas Overbury, and then they discovered that it wasn't him, and they have no idea who it is.
這幅都鐸時代的畫由英國國家肖像美術館買下 他們原本以為這是詩人托馬斯·奧弗伯理爵士 但是後來他們發現原來不是他 而且他們也不知道這到底是誰
Now, in the National Portrait Gallery, if you don't know the biography of the painting, it's kind of useless to you. They can't hang it on the wall, because they don't know who he is. So unfortunately, this orphan spends most of his time in storage, along with quite a number of other orphans, some of them some beautiful paintings.
所以,在國家肖像美術館裡 如果你不知道一幅畫的背景 對你而言這畫沒什麼用處 這幅畫不能掛出來展覽,因為他們不知道他是誰 所以很不幸地這幅「孤兒」畫 大部分時間都跟其他一樣為數不少的 「孤兒」畫一樣存放在儲藏室裡 其中有些畫真的很漂亮
This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is blushing. He's blushing for his portrait being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he thinking about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely gorgeous doublet. Silk, gray, those beautiful buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a duvet spread over a bed.
這幅畫讓我停下來看的原因有三個 第一是他嘴與眼的表情不一致 他的嘴在微笑,但他的眼卻顯出哀愁 他並不快樂,而他為什麼不快樂? 第二個很吸引我的原因 是他亮紅色的雙頰 他臉紅了。他因為被畫而臉紅 這個傢伙一定常常臉紅 他到底想到什麼使他臉紅呢? 第三個讓我停下腳步的原因 是他那件非常華麗的上衣 絲綢,灰色,還有那些美麗的鈕扣 你知道這些讓我想到什麼嗎? 它看起來又貼又蓬,好像床上鋪的羽絨被
I kept thinking of beds and red cheeks, and of course I kept thinking of sex when I looked at him, and I thought, is that what he's thinking about? And I thought, if I'm going to make a story, what's the last thing I'm going to put in there? Well, what would a Tudor gentleman be preoccupied with? And I thought, well, Henry VIII, okay. He'd be preoccupied with his inheritance, with his heir. Who is going to inherit his name and his fortune? You put all those together, and you've got your story to fill in that gap that makes you keep coming back. Now, here's the story. It's short.
我老是想到床和紅臉頰 當然,當我看著他我也總是聯想到性 而且我在想,他是不是也在想這個? 然後我想,如果我要根據他寫個故事 我最後要寫的是什麼? 喔,都鐸時代的男性都在想什麼? 我想到亨利八世 他也許每天都在想誰能繼承他的位子 誰將繼承他的名號及財富 你如果把這些都放在一起,你的故事就可以 填補讓你一直反覆回來看畫的那些缺口 那麼這就是我想到的故事 很短
"Rosy"
「小紅玫」
I am still wearing the white brocade doublet Caroline gave me. It has a plain high collar, detachable sleeves and intricate buttons of twisted silk thread, set close together so that the fit is snug. The doublet makes me think of a coverlet on the vast bed. Perhaps that was the intention. I first wore it at an elaborate dinner her parents held in our honor. I knew even before I stood up to speak that my cheeks were inflamed. I have always flushed easily, from physical exertion, from wine, from high emotion.
我仍然穿著卡洛琳送我的白色絲綢上衣 它是件有著可拆式袖子的普通高領上衣 還有著以絲線纏扭出的精緻鈕扣 縫得很密,所以很貼身 這件緊身上衣使我想起床上的床罩 或許這就是她的意圖吧 我第一次穿它是在她父母為我們舉辦的豪華晚宴上 我知道在我站起來發言之前 我的雙頰紅得像火 我總是很容易臉紅,不論是因為體力消耗 喝酒,還是情緒激動
As a boy, I was teased by my sisters and by schoolboys, but not by George. Only George could call me Rosy. I would not allow anyone else. He managed to make the word tender. When I made the announcement, George did not turn rosy, but went pale as my doublet. He should not have been surprised. It has been a common assumption that I would one day marry his cousin. But it is difficult to hear the words aloud. I know, I could barely utter them.
就因為我是個男孩,所以我的姊妹及男生同學都嘲笑我 但是喬治卻沒有 只有喬治能叫我小紅玫 我不讓別人這樣叫我 他的叫法讓這個字聽起來很柔和 當我宣佈訂婚的消息時,喬治並沒有臉紅 相反的,卻蒼白的像我的上衣 他不應該驚訝的 大家都覺得很理所當然 有一天我會娶他的表妹 但聽到正式宣佈這消息卻依然很難接受 我瞭解,我也很難啟齒
Afterwards, I found George on the terrace overlooking the kitchen garden. Despite drinking steadily all afternoon, he was still pale. We stood together and watched the maids cut lettuces. "What do you think of my doublet?" I asked.
之後我在能俯視廚房菜園的陽台上找到了喬治 儘管喝了一下午的酒,他看起來仍然蒼白 我們站在一起看著女僕切萵苣菜 我問:「你喜歡我的緊身上衣嗎?」
He glanced at me. "That collar looks to be strangling you."
他瞧了我一眼說:「這個領子會掐死你。」
"We will still see each other," I insisted. "We can still hunt and play cards and attend court. Nothing need change." George did not speak. "I am 23 years old. It is time for me to marry and produce an heir. It is expected of me."
我很堅定地說:「我們還是可以見面的。」 「我們還是可以一起打獵、玩牌、去宮廷。 一切如舊。」 喬治沒有說什麼 「我已經23歲了,是該結婚了, 也該生個子嗣繼承家業,這是大家的期望。」
George drained another glass of claret and turned to me. "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, James. I'm sure you'll be content together." He never used my nickname again.
喬治喝乾了另一杯紅酒,轉身面對我 「恭喜你要結婚了,詹姆士。 我深信你倆會很幸福。」 從此他不再叫我的小名
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)
Thank you.
謝謝大家
(Applause)
(掌聲)