For more than 30 years this mysterious picture has been the subject of close attention of art historians, psychologists and researchers of anomalous phenomena. But so far no one has managed to unravel her secret …
Titled Hands Resist Him, literally Hands Resist Him, it was created in 1972 by Chicago-based artist Bill Stohan. The plot is based on an old photograph in which Bill himself was filmed at the age of 5 and which was accidentally found by him in the attic.
The painting shows two children: an older boy and a younger girl, standing against the background of a glass door. Outside the door is darkness, against which the disk of the moon is visible. And also … hands are pressed against the door from the outside.
What did the artist want to say with this? He probably tried to portray the process of growing up: children who have to open the door to the big world … But while their backs are to it …
One way or another, but from the very beginning something was wrong with the picture. The author showed it to one of the owners of the Los Angeles Times, who has an art history. He died soon after.
In 1984, the canvas was acquired by actor John Marley. And he was overtaken by an untimely death. After that, the picture disappeared. It was discovered only many years later. She was found in a dump by random people. They brought the canvas home and hung it up in the nursery. And at night, the owners 'little daughter ran to the parents' room, shouting that the children in the picture … are fighting! The adults did not pay attention to her words, they decided that the girl had just had a bad dream.
But the next night the baby ran into the bedroom again, screaming. She claimed that this time the painted children were outside the door. The same one, also drawn … Then the head of the family installed a video camera in the children's video camera. It turned on if movement began in the room. During the night, the camera worked several times, but nothing unusual was recorded.
Finally, the painting was put up for auction eBay. And then the mail addresses of the administrators of the auction were showered with letters in which visitors to the site complained that after they looked at the canvas, their health sharply deteriorated. Some of them fainted, and even had several heart attacks. The administration posted a warning on the website that contemplation of the painting could be dangerous for human health and psyche, but this stopped few people. The number of victims of the canvas was estimated in hundreds, if not thousands.
The initial price of the canvas was $ 199. During the auction, it climbed to $ 1,025. The buyer was Kim Smith, an art gallery owner in a small town near Chicago. Having stumbled upon "Hands Resist Him", he decided: this is what he needs! The bad reputation of the picture did not stop the gallery owner.
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The news of the sale of the canvas caused a real stir among Internet users. Letters with danger warnings began to arrive at the address of Kim Smith. Some wrote that evil comes from the picture, and advised to burn it … And Ed and Lorraine Warren, known for exorcising demons in 1979 in Amityville (a feature film was later filmed about this), offered their services to the new owner of Hands Resist Him on carrying out the ritual of exorcism - after all, unclean spirits have definitely moved into the picture!
Psychologists also put forward their version. They say that this masterpiece was created with a violation of spatial proportions, and therefore has a depressing effect on the human psyche …
According to one psychic, the children depicted in the picture, like two drops of water, resembled Tom and Laura Satillo, who were murdered in their own home in the forest hills in California. Psychics said: “We saw a boy. He wore a light T-shirt and shorts. His sister was always in the shadows. He seemed to be protecting her. Their names were Tom and Laura and they are like two drops like the children depicted in the picture."
What's wrong with this picture? Maybe it's all about distortion of proportions and shape, light, but intrusive. It makes you peer. Look at the boy's head: his head is flat, flat and shapeless, as if covered with a piece of raw dough, his face. Look at the door. Don't you feel that the boy is taller than an adult, and the door is huge? Hands behind an invisible barrier seem very small. The boy's legs, in them too, something is wrong.
There is a terrible wrong. She's scary.
Of course, to understand this picture you need to think like an artist, because he painted himself.
Imagine that you are standing at a locked door, squinting against the bright sun. THEY won't let you in the door and this makes you want to cry (you bit your lip), but you won't, because you are already adults.
The girl next to you is not an enemy at all, but your only companion behind this door. Although she is a doll, she has no eyes, and is empty inside, but she knows where to go - after all, she is an inhabitant of this world-behind-the-door. She will guide you in a way where your hands cannot drive you away. Everything is fine, it's just a little offensive that they didn't let me in right away.
The street is a dream, the house is our world. The door is the border between sleep and reality, and the hands are "other living". Or maybe it’s not THEIR children who do not let them in, but the children don’t let THEM into them? Children are afraid, especially a boy. but he's an adult and doesn't show it. A girl cannot be afraid because she has no feelings. But they - a boy and a girl know for sure that the HANDS from THAT world will not get through to them, they will not break, because this is a completely different world. But there is something to be afraid of … at least the unexpected. but what if?…