| | 자살로 비운의 생을 마감한 것으로 알려진 세계적인 인상파 화가 빈센트 반 고흐가 사실은 타살됐다는 주장이 제기되었다. 고흐의 자살은 그 동안 예술사학자들 사이에서 정설로 통해왔지만, 퓰리처상을 받은 두 작가가 10년의 걸친 연구 끝에 새로운 주장을 내세운 것이다. 다음의 지문을 통해서 그들이 재해석한 고흐의 죽음의 내막을 살펴보자.
Vincent van Gogh is nearly as famous for his troubled life and premature death as he is for his work. Widely considered the greatest Dutch painter since Rembrandt and a major influence on twentieth-century art, van Gogh produced about nine hundred paintings and over a thousand drawings. Eventually, his work came to be revered for its emotional honesty and beauty, largely achieved through bold, innovative use of color―but recognition came too late. Van Gogh died of a gunshot wound on July 29, 1890, at the age of thirty-seven, having sold only a single painting during his lifetime. Until recently, it was generally accepted that van Gogh shot himself. But a new biography, Van Gogh: The Life, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, has generated controversy by contending that his death was not a suicide.
That van Gogh was both physically ill and mentally unstable in the last years of his life is not in dispute. He had long struggled with depression, along with physical ailments caused by overwork and heavy smoking and drinking. In 1888 the painter notoriously brandished a razor blade at his friend, the artist Paul Gaugain, and later used the same blade to cut off his own left ear. The following year, van Gogh suffered from hallucinations and delusions that earned him the moniker fou roux―“the red-haired madman”―among his neighbors. In May of 1889 he committed himself to a French psychiatric hospital, where he was permitted to take short walks. The hospital and its surroundings became the subject of some of his greatest works, including Starry Night. He was discharged late that year but suffered repeated setbacks in the succeeding months. On July 27, 1890, van Gogh stumbled to the door of the house where he was lodging, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the upper abdomen. Despite the efforts of physicians, he died two days later.
The precise timing and location of the shooting remain mysterious, however, leaving room for divergent theories. The belief that van Gogh killed himself rests largely on the man’s own words as he lay dying. ■ Among other things, he reportedly said, “Do not accuse anyone. It is I who wanted to commit suicide.” ■However, Naifeh and Smith point out that it is unusual for a suicide to aim at the heart instead of the head. ■ In fact, the bullet struck van Gogh at an odd angle, missing his heart entirely. Even more puzzlingly, no gun was ever found, and no one has ever explained how van Gogh might have laid hands on one. ■ The authors propose an alternative explanation: that van Gogh was shot―probably accidentally―by a local teenaged boy named Rene Secretan. Secretan certainly knew van Gogh, owned a pistol, and had repeatedly played practical jokes on the artist. Naifeh and Smith hypothesize that the shooting was horseplay gone wrong, and that van Gogh’s final words were an attempt to shield the boy.
In the absence of witnesses or other hard evidence, most scholars are reluctant to abandon what they see as the more plausible explanation. Yet it is clear that Naifeh and Smith are careful researchers, and they raise valid questions about the received version of events. The curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam declined to endorse the new theory, but he admitted that Van Gogh: The Life convinced him of the need for further research into the mystery of the painter’s death.
1. From the information in paragraph 2, it can be inferred that
(A) van Gogh continued to smoke and drink while hospitalized
(B) van Gogh’s troubles were known only to close friends
(C) van Gogh’s illness did not destroy his artistic ability
(D) van Gogh did not acknowledge that he was unwell
TIPS: 두 번째 단락에서 고흐가 병원에 입원한 상태에서도 “별이 빛나는 밤”과 같은 그의 걸작들을 만들어 냈다는 내용이 있으므로 (C)를 추론해 볼 수 있다.
2. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
Combined with his history of self-destructive behavior, this makes for a compelling case.
Where would the sentence best fit?
TIPS: Self-destructive behavior라는 내용은 고흐가 자살을 했다는 것을 인정하는 내용 바로 뒤로 들어가야 흐름상 적절하다. 따라서 두 번째 네모가 적절하다.
3. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
(A) The curator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has not read Van Gogh: The Life, but he says he plans to.
(B) Van Gogh: The Life convinced the curator of the Van Gogh Museum that the new theory is probably correct.
(C) The new book has convinced the curator of the Van Gogh Museum to conduct further research into the artist’s death.
(D) The curator of the Van Gogh Museum admits the new theory warrants more research, though he has not embraced it.
TIPS: 하이라이트된 문장의 핵심은 1) 반 고흐 박물관의 전시책임자는 새로운 이론을 지지하지 않았으며 1) 그럼에도 불구하고 그는 연구해 볼 가치가 있다고 생각했다는 것이다. 따라서 두 가지 내용을 모두 포함한 (D)가 정답이다.
정답
1. (C)
2. Square two
3. (D)
Vocabulary
-premature: adj. 너무 이른 / happening before the natural or proper time
-controversy: n. 논란 / a serious argument about something that involves many people and continues for a long time
-hallucination: n. 환각, 환영 / something which you imagine you can see or hear, but which is not really there, or the experience of this
-delusion: n. 망상 / a false belief about yourself or the situation you are in
-discharge: v. 퇴원하다, 떠나다 / to officially allow someone to leave somewhere
-stumble: v. 비틀거리다 / to walk in an unsteady way and often almost fall
-abdomen: n. 배, 복부 / the part of your body between your chest and legs which contains your stomach
-divergent: adj. 다른, 갈라지는 / things are different from each other
-shield: n. 방패, 보호장치 / something that protects a person or thing from harm or damage
-plausible: adj. 이치에 맞는, 그럴듯한 / reasonable and likely to be true or successful |
|
