周末看了DVD音乐剧RENT，此剧描写一群生活在纽约底层的艺术家，他们的艺术得不到公众的认可，生活窘迫，恶习与疾病缠身，他们在恶劣的生存条件下互相扶持，坚持追求。这部电影不禁让我想到英国作家毛姆在他的小说《月亮与六便士》中的一段话（亦可把下文中的“BEAUTY”改作“ART”）： 

Why should you think beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.

from The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maugham

当今通俗的文学艺术，比如电影、话剧、和音乐等，我一直以为美国最突出（只与中国比，我对现今的欧洲没有认识），可能就是因为在美国社会中有那么一个庞大的群体，不计生存的艰辛，坚持自己对艺术的理解和追求，在这样一种机制下，优秀作品层出不穷也就很自然了。而现今的中国，意识形态上的限制，以及社会中急功近利的风尚，都在很大程度上扼制了深刻且有力度的作品的问世。

高更在做银行家时花过几万法郎来购买油画作品，而当他在巴黎做画家时，口袋里常常身无分文，甚至于后来去法国南部和梵高会面，都是靠了梵高弟弟的资助（参阅《LUST FOR LIFE》或梵高书信）。试想现今的中国，有几个人能够如此追求艺术？在RENT中的纽约EAST VILLAGE，大概也如当年的巴黎那样，在无数默默无名的艺术家中，又能出几个高更和梵高？但是，留名后世应该是艺术家心目中重要的追求吗？

在《月亮与六便士》中，关于为何主人公（原型是高更）放弃平静优裕的生活而去巴黎学画，有这样一段文字：

“I tell you I’ve got to paint. I can’t help myself. When a man falls into the water it doesn’t matter how he swims, well or badly: he’s got to get out or else he’ll drown.”

There was real passion in his voice, and in spite of myself I was impressed. I seemed to feel in him some vehement power that was struggle within him; it gave me the sensation of something strong, overmastering, that held him, as it were, against his will. He seemed really be possessed of a devil, and I felt that it might suddenly turn and rend him.

我对艺术的看法：Art is rooted in Life, and pursuing art is driven by Passion. 当一个社会的热情集中于金钱﹑名位﹑和成功时，艺术的地位是黯淡的，这样的社会不可能产生优秀的艺术作品。