Unit 2 The Van Gogh Dossier:Mad or Genius
Skill Training
Practice 1
Paragraph 1:Van Gogh just sold one painting during his lifetime.
Paragraph 2:The one solitary painting that Van Gogh sold only a few months before his suicide in 1890.
Paragraph 3:His brother Theo recommended that he paint in the style of the impressionists.
Paragraph 4:Van Gogh lived a life filled with depression and unhappiness.
Practice 2
1.It was his love for reproducing nature and his surroundings in the one medium by which he was able to express himself to the fullest—painting.
2.Red Vineyard.
3.$351.
4.He used very dark colors,mostly brown.
5.It’s akin to using a yellow smiley face sticker to uplifts your spirit and brings you to a happier state of consciousness.
Practice 3
1.F 2.F 3.T 4.F 5.T 6.F
Reading in Depth
Pre-reading
Exercise 1
1.F 2.T 3.F 4.T 5.T 6.F
Exercise 2
1— g;2— d;3—f;4— e;5 — b;6— a;7—c.
Re-reading
Exercise 1
1.He threatened the life of Gauguin,his fellow artist and a personal friend,and cut off a piece of his own left ear before offering it as a gift to a prostitute.
2.The exhibition offers new insights into the personality of Vincent van Gogh.
3.The exhibition focuses on the last two years of Van Gogh’s life,half of which he spent in an asylum in Saint-Remy,France.
4.It was more than 120 years ago on 29 July 1890 that Van Gogh died,two days after attempting to commit suicide.
5.He thought that he was not mad and he was calm while doing the canvases.
Exercise 2
1.D 2.B 3.A 4.B 5.B 6.A
Reading the News
Exercise 1
1.C 2.B 3.A
Exercise 2
1.Many tourist hotspots have closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus
2.the Vincent Van Gogh’s oil painting “Spring Garden” was stolen in an overnight raid.
3.The 1884 painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum for an exhibition titled Mirror of the Soul.
Exercise 3
1.C 2.A 3.B