Van Gogh and Gauguin (The Economist April 29th 2006)
39. Sunny side down

The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles.
By Martin Gayford.

39-1-160
Two more mismatched housemates than Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin would be hard to find. Van Gogh was unkempt, emotionally unstable and talked incessantly while he worked. Gauguin, a former sailor and businessman, was taciturn, orderly and a loner. Yet from October to December 1888, the two shared a four-roomed yellow house in Arles until, after a quarrel, Van Gogh cut off his ear. Gauguin fled for Paris and the two never saw each other again.
Martin Gayford's new book analyses the influence of this brief, failed effort to form a 'school of the south', an artistic brotherhood by the brightly lit landscape of Provence. Van Gogh sold only one picture in his lifetime, which was painted during this time. On May 2nd, another crucial work from the period, 'l'Arlesienne, Madame Ginoux' (pictured below) is due to go under the hammer at Christie's with an estimate of $40-50m.
Van Gogh was the first artist to migrate to the south of France. Isolated in Arles, he pained for a friend to talk to about art. He begged Gauguin to join him there, even decorating a bedroom for his guest with paintings such as 'Sunflowers', an expression of the intense heat and colour that Van Gogh sought in his art.
For Gauguin, the arrangement was more prosaic: he could live cheaply in Arles to save money for his next trip to the tropics. Mr Gayford attempts to recreate_ the claustrophobic atmosphere of the yellow house, with its small studio in which the two men were cooped up during the months of the mistral. He sees this period as a turning point in the work of each artist and in the history of art, and he chronicles every day, sometimes every hour, of their life together. This is both the book's strength and its weakness. For interesting though it is to learn of their 'hygienic' visits to the brothel, Gauguin's talent as a cook and Van Gogh's voracious reading habits, the book becomes so bogged down in quotidian details that at times it loses the plot.

A. 어휘
turbulent 소용돌이치는, 거친. mismatched 어울리지 않게 짝이 지어진.
unkempt 단정치 못한. unstable 불안정한. incessantly 그칠 새 없이.
taciturn 말수가 적은, 입이 무거운. orderly 단정한. loner 고독을 사랑하는 사람.
quarrel 말다툼, 싸움. analyse 분석하다. brief 잠시의. failed effort 실패한 노력.
form 형성하다. “school of the south' 남부 學派(학파). brotherhood 단체, 협회, 우애.
light-lit-lit or light-lighted-lighted 비추다, 밝히다, 점화하다.
the brightly lit landscape 햇빛이 밝게 비추는 풍경.
Provence 프로방스[프랑스 동남부지방]. crucial 아주 중대한, 결정적인. work 작품.
be due to+V ...할 예정이다. go under the hammer 경매되다.
Christie 세계적으로 유명한 경매회사. estimate 평가. 40-50m= 40-50million
migrate 이주하다. isolate 고립시키다. decorate 장식하다. painting 그림.
seek-sought-sought. arrangement 결말, 배열, 협정. prosaic 산문적인, 평범한.
the tropics 열대지방. claustrophobic 密室恐怖症(밀실공포증)의.
coop 가두어 넣다, 둥우리, 새장.
mistral 프랑스 지중해 연안지방의 차고 건조한 서북풍.
chronicle 연대순으로 기록하다, 年代記(연대기). hygienic 위생적인. brothel 매춘굴.
voracious 게걸스레 먹는, 매우 열심인. bog 늪에 가라앉다, 濕地(습지).
quotidian 매일의, 매일 일어나는, 평범한. detail 상세한 기술, 細部(세부).

B. 구문
- For interesting though it is . . . visits
cf. interesting though it is→ though it is interesting . . .
[왜냐하면 그들의 위생적인 방문에 대해서 아는 것은 흥미가 있는 일이지만. . .]