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　　梵高一生画了许多自画像(self-portraits)。他不断审视着自己的容颜，或冷峻，或热情，或苦闷，或忧郁，似乎也在不断审视着自己内心的孤寂与挣扎(solitude and struggle)。这几幅是梵高在1886-1889年间所画的自画像。

　　Van Gogh's most famous painting, The Starry Night, takes this mixture of joy and sadness one step further. It is a landscape1 full of deep blues and shadows which represent2 the sadness van Gogh was feeling as he was painting, rather than what he was actually seeing.

　　This is why Van Gogh's images3 in his painting look more imagined than real. The stars and moon in The Starry Night are unusually bright, their light swirling above the darkening hills. A tree that looks like black fire cuts through the view of the night, interrupting4 its beauty.

　　Because of his wild emotions, van Gogh was not understood during his life. He sold only one painting and never found true love. However, people today who stand in front of Sunflowers or The Starry Night can experience the same joy and sadness van Gogh once did, as he painted those deep blues and sunny yellows.

　　-by Eddie Cameron

　　词汇小补帖：仅供参考

　　●further加深

　　●swirl成漩涡状

　　●hill山丘