No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

53
was only the familiar self-portrait of van Gogh. When
we were children the French Impressionist School
was very popular in Japan, and our first introduction
to an appreciation of Western painting most often
began with such works. The paintings of van Gogh,
Gauguin, Cezanne and Renoir were familiar even to
students at country schools, mainly through photographic
reproductions. I myself had seen quite a few
colored photographs of van Gogh's paintings. His
brushwork and the vividness of his colors had intrigued
me, but I had never imagined his pictures to
be of ghosts.
I took from my bookshelf a volume of Modigliani
reproductions, and showed Takeichi the familiar
nudes with skin the color of burnished copper. "How
about these? Do you suppose they're ghosts too?"
"They're terrific." Takeichi widened his eyes in
admiration. "This one looks like a horse out of hell."
"They really are ghosts then, aren't they?"
"I wish I could paint pictures of ghosts like that,"
said Takeichi.
There are some people whose dread of human
beings is so morbid that they reach a point where they
yearn to see with their own eyes monsters of ever
more horrible shapes. And the more nervous they are
—the quicker to take fright—the more violent they
pray that every storm will be . . . Painters who have