Vincent van Gogh Poppies 1886 painting

Vincent van Gogh Poppies 1886 paintingHenri Matisse Goldfish paintingHenri Matisse Blue Nude I 1952 painting
gentlemen with silver hair, achkan jackets and monocles; employees of the various foundations and philanthropical enterprises set up by Changez years ago; rival manufacturers of agricultural sprays and artificial dung. A real bag of ailsorts, Salahuddin thought; but marvelled, also, at how beautifully everyone behaved in the presence of the dying man: the young spoke to him intimately about their lives, as if reassuring him that was invincible, offering him the rich consolation of being a member of the great procession of the human race, -- while the old evoked the past, so that he knew nothing was forgotten, nothing lost; that in spite of the years of self-imposed sequestration he remained joined to the world. Death brought out the best in people; it was good to be shown -- Salahuddin realized -- that this, too, was what human beings were like: considerate, loving, even noble. We are still capable of exaltation, he thought in celebratory mood; in spite of everything, we can still transcend. A pretty young woman -- it occurred to Salahuddin that she was