It is unlikely that Claude Monet, working on the painting "Water Lilies", assumed that a few decades later they would talk about it not only as a masterpiece of world painting, but also as a canvas with mystical properties.
And the whole point is that this picture carries a certain invisible fiery phantom, which at a certain moment breaks out, creating a fire in the room. For the first time, "Water Lilies" demonstrated their evil and insidious character in the artist's studio, when Monet completed work on them. But the fire was quickly extinguished, and the picture also remained intact.
After some time the painting was acquired by the owner of an inexpensive restaurant in Montmartre. But he did not enjoy a successful purchase for long. Literally a month later, a fire broke out in his establishment. The fire destroyed all property almost to the ground, and only the picture and even some of the things that were taken out into the street escaped the merciless flame …
A little time passed, and the picture got a new owner - the collector and philanthropist Oscar Schmitz, who lived in Paris. Fate spared him for a whole year. But after twelve months from the house of Mr. Schmitz there was only a charred skeleton. At the same time, as the firemen noticed, for some reason the fire broke out in the very room in which the Water Lilies were located. By the way, this time Monet's painting also survived.
The next owner of the arsonist painting was no longer a private person, but an entire organization - the New York Museum of Modern Art. But this time it was not without flame and smoke. The fire broke out just four months after the painting moved to its new "residence". True, this time the "Water Lilies" are heavily charred and require serious restoration work. And perhaps only for this reason the fiery phantom will finally leave them.
In addition to Monet's Water Lilies, a copy of The Crying Boy by the Spanish artist Giovanni Bragolina (1911–1981) is among the arsonist paintings.
In 1985, mention of this reproduction appeared unexpectedly in front-page coverage of nearly every newspaper in Britain. And the picture owes its fame to firefighter Peter Hall, who told reporters several strange stories related to "Crying Boy", which he himself witnessed. It turns out that even when almost all of the property burned down in the fire, the reproduction of this painting remained intact …
At first, the fireman's statement caused only ironic grins from readers. But soon a real stream of letters and telegrams poured into the newspaper, in which an interview with the fireman was published, in which ordinary people reported their own troubles associated with a strange picture.
Promotional video:
One elderly woman reported that there were several dozen paintings in her apartment, but only Crying Boy was spared by the fire. In another case, the flames completely destroyed two paintings hanging on either side of the ominous reproduction, while she herself did not even darken with soot …
There is something mystical in the painting "Venus with a Mirror" by the great Spanish artist Diego Velazquez. At least, it did not bring much joy to its owners.
Its first owner was a wealthy Spanish merchant. But as soon as the picture was in his collection, fate made fun of him. Once his merchant fleet was attacked by pirates, who seized not only goods, but also some of the ships; the rest of the ships were burned and sank.
To pay back the debts, the merchant sold off his entire fortune, including "Venus with a Mirror". It, along with some household items, was acquired by another merchant, who, however, did not go to sea, but owned large warehouses in the port.
But as soon as the picture was in the house of its new owner, as lightning struck one of the storage rooms during a thunderstorm, they flashed and almost completely burned out. Again Velazquez's painting brought misfortune to the one who bought it …
But the mystical story of "Venus with a Mirror" did not end there. Again, during the auction, a wealthy Spaniard bought it along with other things. But again everything happened as if according to a previously written script. Three days later, the new owner of "Venus with a Mirror" was found in his country house with a slit throat.
After that, there were no people willing to replenish their collection with the ominous painting of Velazquez. And for a long time she was transported from one museum to another, until one day she was cut with a knife by a mentally ill tourist.
But some paintings bring other misfortunes to their owners or people who have come into contact with them. So, the owners of the painting "Adoration of the Magi" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, after some time began to notice that this canvas brings sterility to the family. At the same time, children did not appear even among those women who had previously become pregnant and gave birth without problems. In connection with this fact, it should be noted that the artist's cousin, who served him in kind, also suffered from infertility …
Munch's painting "The Scream" also carries a kind of evil mystical principle. At least dozens of people who had to come into contact with her soon felt the effect of evil fate: they began to get sick, broke off relationships with loved ones, plunged into severe depression, or even suddenly died. As a result, from all these stories about the picture, not the most kind fame was formed. Therefore, those of the visitors who at least out of the corner of their ears heard about the mystical properties of the canvas, looked at it with apprehension.
Here are just a few cases that relate to "Scream". So, once an elderly museum worker accidentally dropped the canvas. Less than a week after this incident, unbearable headaches began to torment him. Although before that, nothing like this had happened to him. Every day, the migraine attacks became longer and more painful. In the end, unable to withstand such a terrible torture, the officer committed suicide.
Another employee also did not hold the canvas during the replacement of the exhibition. And again, less than a week later, he became the victim of a car accident. Already in the hospital, the unfortunate man learned that his lower and upper limbs, several ribs, and also the pelvic bone were broken.
The life of Edvard Munch himself was also full of tragedies. As soon as the boy was 5 years old, his mother died of consumption. After 9 years, his beloved sister Sophia passed away. Then brother Andreas was gone. And after a while, his younger sister fell ill with schizophrenia. In the early 1890s, the artist himself also suffered a serious nervous breakdown, and for a long time he was treated with electric shock.
Bernatsky Anatoly
