An unusual picture. Amazing paintings

Today we would like to tell you a little about those people who, in our opinion, are among the most unusual artists modernity. They use non-standard techniques, unusual ideas, investing all their creativity and talent into their unique works.

1. Lorenzo Duran

His way of creating paintings is based on historical research paper cutting in China, Japan, Germany and Switzerland. He collects leaves, washes them, dries them, presses them and carefully carves his paintings on them.

2. Nina Aoyama

At first glance, it may seem that this young French woman is not doing anything special - she is simply cutting out paper. But she glues her cutouts onto fabric or glass, and the result is so beautiful!

3. Claire Morgan

British artist Claire Morgan creates unusual installations, which freeze right in the air. The artist's working materials are dry plants, grains, insects, stuffed animals and fresh fruits. Thousands of installation details are attached to a thin fishing line with pinpoint precision. Claire Morgan's aerial sculptures are dedicated to the Earth and all life that lives on it.

4. Mike Stilkey

Mike Stilkey creates paintings from book spines. He builds a whole wall of books and paints his pictures on their spines. Mike for a long time I dreamed of publishing an album with my paintings, but not a single publishing house took on this. His painting did not find a response among critics. Then the artist decided to let the books tell about his work.

5. Jim Denevan

Jim draws patterns in the sand with unprecedented mathematical precision. Jim paints mostly on beaches, but in Lately he began to paint in the deserts. “I don’t have as much time on the beach as I do in the deserts,” he says. “After all, the ocean washes everything away very quickly.”

6. Vhils

His works are unusual in that he scratches them into old plaster.

7. Bruce Munro

In his work he works with light. Not long ago his installation of another field of light opened in English city Baht. It is a field dotted with lamps on thin plastic stalks. Looks like a set for the movie Avatar.

8. Jason Mecier

The problem of drug addiction is acute throughout the world. In an attempt to draw the attention of the general public to her, the talented American artist Jason Mecier made portraits of stars from tablets. The most interesting thing is that the artist used only tablets as a material for his paintings, which are dispensed according to a special prescription, which he could not legally obtain. It can be said that Jason committed an illegal act, but in doing so he drew attention to the illegal distribution of drugs.

9. Jennifer Maestre

The world is full of creative people and every day hundreds of new paintings appear and new songs are written. Of course, in the world of art, there are some missteps, but there are masterpieces by real masters that are simply breathtaking! We will show you their work today.

Pencil Augmented Reality

Photographer Ben Heine continued working on his project, which is a mixture pencil drawings and photographs. First, he makes a freehand sketch with a pencil on paper. Then he photographs the drawing against the background of a real object and refines the resulting image in Photoshop, adding contrast and saturation. The result is magic!

Illustrations by Alisa Makarova

Alisa Makarova - talented artist from Saint-Petersburg. In an age when most images are created using a computer, our compatriot’s interest in traditional forms painting commands respect. One of her latest projects is the triptych “Vulpes Vulpes”, in which you can see charming fiery red foxes. Beauty, and that's all!

Fine engraving

Wood artists Paul Rodin and Valeria Lu have announced the creation of a new engraving called “The Moth”. The painstaking work and exquisite craftsmanship of the authors do not leave even the most stubborn skeptics indifferent. The print will be featured at an upcoming exhibition in Brooklyn on November 7th.

Drawings ballpoint pen

Probably everyone, at least once during lectures, instead of writing down the teacher’s words, drew various figures in a notebook. It is unknown whether the artist Sarah Esteje was one of these students. But the fact that her ballpoint pen drawings are impressive is an indisputable fact! Sarah simply proved that you don't need any special materials to create something truly interesting.

Surreal worlds of Artem Chebokha

Russian artist Artem Chebokha creates incredible worlds, where there is only sea, sky and endless harmony. For his new works, the artist chose very poetic images - a wanderer traveling through unknown places and whales circling in cloud-waves - the flight of imagination of this master is simply limitless.

Spot portraits

Some people think about brush stroke technique, others think about the contrast of light and shadow, but the artist Pablo Jurado Ruiz paints with dots! The artist developed the ideas of the pointillism genre, inherent in the authors of the neo-impressionism era, and created his own style, where details decide absolutely everything. Thousands of touches to paper result in realistic portraits, which you just want to look at.

Paintings from floppy disks

In an era when many things and technologies become obsolete at the speed of a passing express train, it is quite common to get rid of unnecessary junk. However, as it turned out, not everything is so sad, and old items can be used to make very modern work art. English artist Nick Gentry collected square floppy disks from friends, took a jar of paint, and drew stunning portraits on them. It turned out very beautiful!

On the verge of realism and surrealism

Berlin artist Harding Meyer loves to paint portraits, but in order not to become another hyperrealist, he decided to experiment and created a series of portraits on the verge of reality and surrealism. These works allow us to look at human face as something more than just a “dry portrait”, highlighting its basis - the image. As a result of such searches, Harding’s work was noticed by the Gallery of Modern Art in Munich, which will exhibit the artist’s work on November 7th.

Finger painting on iPad

Many contemporary artists are experimenting with materials to create paintings, but the Japanese Seikou Yamaoka outdid them all by using his iPad as a canvas. He simply installed the ArtStudio application and began not just to draw, but to reproduce the most famous masterpieces of art. Moreover, he does this not with some special brushes, but with his finger, which arouses admiration even among people far from the world of art.

"Wood" painting

Using everything from ink to tea, wood artist Mandy Tsung has created truly mesmerizing paintings filled with passion and energy. She chose as her main topic mysterious image women and their position in the modern world.

Hyperrealist

Every time you find the work of hyperrealist artists, you involuntarily ask yourself the question: “Why are they doing all this?” Each of them has their own answer to this and sometimes quite contradictory philosophy. But artist Dino Tomic says it bluntly: “I just love my family very much.” He painted day and night and tried not to miss a single detail from the portrait of his relatives. One such drawing took him at least 70 hours of work. To say that the parents were delighted is to say nothing.

Portraits of soldiers

On October 18, an exhibition of works by Joe Black entitled “Ways of Seeing” opened at the Opera Gallery in London. To create his paintings, the artist used not only paints, but also the most unusual materials- bolts, badges and much more. However, the main material was....toy soldiers! The most interesting exhibits of the exhibition are portraits of Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher and Mao Zedong.

Sensual oil portraits

Korean artist Lee Rim was not so famous a couple of days ago, but her new paintings “Girls in Paint” caused a wide response and resonance in the art world. Lee says: " The main topic my work is human emotions and psychological condition. Even though we live in different environments, at a certain point in time we feel the same when we look at an object." Perhaps this is why, looking at her work, I want to understand this girl and get into her thoughts.

Artists are imaginative and try to create unusual paintings, bringing uniqueness and diversity to them. Some paintings enchant and inspire, while others frighten with the images depicted.

Venus with a mirror

The canvas was painted by Diego Velazquez during a trip to Italy. This was done secretly, since in Spain at that time depicting a nude figure was strictly prohibited.

There is a lot connected with the work unpleasant stories. The first owner was a merchant from Spain, who suddenly went bankrupt after purchasing the masterpiece. At first, trade began to go worse, and then more serious troubles occurred - goods were captured by pirates, ships sank. The merchant began to sell his property to recoup his losses and sold the painting. “Venus with a Mirror” was purchased by another person who was also involved in trade. Almost immediately, his warehouses burned down from a lightning strike. He also sold the canvas.

The third owner was stabbed to death three days later in his own home. Afterwards, for a long time no one wanted to buy “Venus with a Mirror”. The painting was passed from one museum to another until one crazy woman named Mary Richardson vandalized it and cut it up with a meat cleaver. The canvas was restored and returned to the London National Gallery, where it remains to this day.

Scream

Edvard Munch, the author of the work, had manic-depressive psychosis. He often suffered from depressive disorders and was tormented by nightmares at night. On Munch's canvas there is a mystical image of a hairless creature with an open mouth.

Most critics argue that Edward depicted himself on the canvas. But the artist says something completely different─ that this is just a “cry of nature.” He was walking with friends and saw a sunset, which inspired him to paint a strange picture.

If you believe the legend, then everyone who came into contact with “Scream” was harmed in one way or another. One museum employee was involved in an accident, and another committed suicide.

Rain Woman

One of the most unusual paintings in the world was painted by Vinnitsa artist Svetlana Taurus at the end of the 90s of the last century. Before her, she was unknown to anyone. A few months before Tilets began her creation, she began to have visions. Sometimes Svetlana felt that she was being watched from the side. Despite the fact that the artist tried to drive away disturbing thoughts, they appeared again. After some time, Taurus had the idea to paint a portrait of a mysterious woman. She set to work, her hand guided by some invisible force. The portrait was ready in record time - in just five hours.

Months later, rumors began to circulate in the city that there was a curse hanging over the painting. All the customers rushed to return it to the art store, without even taking their money back. Each of them claimed that the canvas comes to life at night. People began to suffer from headaches and other ailments and could not sleep.

“Rain Woman” is a very atmospheric and impressive picture. It perfectly combines the background, perspective and proportions. Perhaps it is this fact that has such an impact on emotional condition owners.

last supper

The canvas shows an image of the last Easter feast of Jesus Christ and his disciples-apostles. It is believed that Christ is talking about the future betrayal of one of his close associates. The artist tried to depict the reaction of each student to the spoken phrase. The very name of the picture already speaks of his sacred meaning. The work really shows hidden characters and messages.

The Duke of Milan asked for the work to be made to order. It is known that da Vinci was looking for models for his work for a long time. The image of Christ was especially difficult. In the end, he modeled him on a young singer from a church choir, who seemed to him the personification of purity and spirituality. The most amazing thing is that three years later, Leonardo found a drunkard in a ditch and drew the image of Judas from him. As it turned out, it was still the same singer. " last supper"was completely completed in 1498.

During World War II, the church where the work was located was hit by a shell. The building was completely destroyed, but the wall with the fresco miraculously survived.

Metamorphoses of Narcissus

One of the most strange paintings Salvador Dali was painted in 1937. This is a beautiful and symbolic work, for which Dali used special paints and brushes. Also, the artist tried new technology applying strokes.

The painting shows a guy admiring his beauty. In the foreground he is sitting by a pond and admiring his reflection, next to him is an image of a stone hand with an egg. The latter is a symbol of rebirth and new life.

Now "Metamorphoses of Narcissus" is in London at the Tate Gallery.

Kiss

The masterpiece was written Austrian artist Gustav Klimt using real gold leaf. He worked on its creation for a year. The canvas depicts two lovers embracing flower meadow. There is nothing and no one around, only a golden background.

One version says that the painting was commissioned by a certain count. He wanted to be photographed with his beloved. When the girl saw the painting, she liked it so much that she immediately agreed to become the count’s wife. According to the second version, “The Kiss” features an image of Gustav himself and his beloved woman Emilia.

Dance

The painting was painted by Henri Matisse using only three colors - green, blue and red. It depicts only people frozen in dance and nature. There are no unnecessary details. The canvas seems to be alive and transmits vibrations very well.

The dance is distinguished by its nobility and captivates with its naturalness. The artist's idea was to capture that moment when a person unites with nature and is filled with ecstasy.

Water lilies

The landscape is the creation of the talented impressionist of his time, Claude Monet. When he finished working on his work, he decided to celebrate this event with his friends. A small fire occurred in the artist's studio, which was immediately extinguished. No one attached any importance to the incident, but it turned out that the masterpiece carried an invisible fiery phantom.

“Water Lilies” were hung in a restaurant located in Montmartre. Surprisingly, the establishment burned down in just one night. But the painting miraculously survived. It was later purchased by art patron Oscar Schmitz. A year after the purchase, his house also burned down. Moreover, the fire started in the office with the canvas. And again, the masterpiece remained safe and sound. The next victim of the landscape is the New York Museum of Modern Art. "Water lilies" were transported into it, and a few months later there was a fire. The masterpiece was partially charred. After restoration, the landscape no longer exhibited “fire hazardous” properties.

There are many more interesting paintings written by the most talented artists. There are many creative people in the world who constantly invent and create new and unusual works.

Unusual paintings by artists

Painting, if you do not take into account the realists, has always been, is and will be strange. But some paintings are stranger than others.
Some works of art seem to hit the viewer over the head, stunning and amazing. Some draw you into thought and in search of layers of meaning, secret symbolism. Some paintings are shrouded in mystery and mystical riddles, and some surprise you with an exorbitant price.

Bright Side carefully reviewed all the major achievements in world painting and selected two dozen of the strangest paintings from among them. The selection does not include paintings by Salvador Dali, whose works completely fall within the format of this material and are the first to come to mind.

"Scream"

Edvard Munch. 1893, cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel
National Gallery, Oslo

"Scream" counts significant event expressionism and one of the most famous paintings in the world. There are two interpretations of what is depicted: it is the hero himself who is gripped by horror and silently screams, pressing his hands to his ears; or the hero closes his ears from the cry of the world and nature sounding around him. Munch wrote four versions of The Scream, and there is a version that this painting is the fruit of manic-depressive psychosis from which the artist suffered. After a course of treatment at the clinic, Munch did not return to work on the canvas.

“I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned against the fence - I looked at the blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends moved on, and I stood trembling with excitement, feeling the endless scream piercing nature,” Edvard Munch said about the history of the painting.

"Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?"

Paul Gauguin. 1897-1898, oil on canvas
Museum fine arts, Boston

According to Gauguin himself, the painting should be read from right to left - three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title. Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist’s plan, “the old woman, approaching death, seems reconciled and indulged in her thoughts,” at her feet “a strange White bird... represents the futility of words."

Deep philosophical picture post-impressionist Paul Gauguin was painted by him in Tahiti, where he fled from Paris. Upon completion of the work, he even wanted to commit suicide, because: “I believe that this painting not only surpasses all my previous ones, and that I will never create something better or even similar.” He lived another 5 years, and that’s what happened.

"Guernica"

Pablo Picasso. 1937, oil on canvas
Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

"Guernica" presents scenes of death, violence, brutality, suffering and helplessness, without specifying their immediate causes, but they are obvious. It is said that in 1940, Pablo Picasso was summoned to the Gestapo in Paris. The conversation immediately turned to the painting. "Did you do this?" - “No, you did it.”

The huge fresco painting “Guernica,” painted by Picasso in 1937, tells the story of a raid by a Luftwaffe volunteer unit on the city of Guernica, as a result of which the city of six thousand was completely destroyed. The painting was painted literally in a month - the first days of work on the painting, Picasso worked for 10-12 hours and already in the first sketches one could see main idea. This is one of best illustrations the nightmare of fascism, as well as human cruelty and grief.

"Portrait of the Arnolfini couple"

Jan van Eyck. 1434, wood, oil
London National Gallery, London

The famous painting is completely filled with symbols, allegories and various references - right down to the signature “Jan van Eyck was here”, which turned it not just into a work of art, but into historical document, confirming a real event at which the artist was present.

The portrait, presumably of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, is one of the most complex works Western school of painting Northern Renaissance. In Russia recent years The picture gained great popularity thanks to portrait resemblance Arnolfini with Vladimir Putin.

"Demon Seated"

Mikhail Vrubel. 1890, oil on canvas
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The painting by Mikhail Vrubel surprises with the image of a demon. The sad long-haired guy doesn’t at all resemble the common human idea of ​​what he should look like evil spirit. This is an image of the strength of the human spirit, internal struggle, doubt. Tragically clasping his hands, the Demon sits with sad, huge eyes directed into the distance, surrounded by flowers. The composition emphasizes the constraint of the demon’s figure, as if squeezed between the upper and lower crossbars of the frame.

The artist himself spoke about his most famous painting: “The demon is not so much an evil spirit as a suffering and sorrowful one, at the same time a powerful, majestic spirit.”

"Apotheosis of War"

Vasily Vereshchagin. 1871, oil on canvas
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The picture is written so deeply and emotionally that behind each skull lying in this pile, you begin to see people, their destinies and the destinies of those who will never see these people again. Vereshchagin himself, with sad sarcasm, called the canvas a “still life” - it depicts “dead nature.” All the details of the picture, including the yellow color, symbolize death and devastation. Clear blue sky emphasizes the deadness of the picture. The idea of ​​the “Apotheosis of War” is also expressed by scars from sabers and bullet holes on skulls.

Vereshchagin is one of the main Russian battle painters, but he painted wars and battles not because he loved them. On the contrary, he tried to convey to people his negative attitude towards the war. One day Vereshchagin, in the heat of emotion, exclaimed: “More battle paintings I won’t write - that’s it! I take what I write too close to my heart, I cry (literally) for the grief of every wounded and killed." Probably the result of this cry was the terrible and bewitching painting "The Apotheosis of War", which depicts a field, crows and a mountain of human skulls.

"American Gothic"

Grant Wood. 1930, oil. 74×62 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

The picture with the gloomy father and daughter is filled with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrograde nature of the people depicted. Angry faces, a pitchfork right in the middle of the picture, old-fashioned clothes even by 1930 standards, an exposed elbow, seams on a farmer’s clothes that repeat the shape of a pitchfork, and therefore a threat that is addressed to everyone who encroaches. You can look at all these details endlessly and cringe from discomfort. "American Gothic" is one of the most recognizable images in American art XX century, the most famous artistic meme of the XX and XXI centuries. Interestingly, the judges of the competition at the Art Institute of Chicago perceived "Gothic" as a "humorous valentine", and the residents of Iowa were terribly offended by Wood for portraying them in such an unpleasant light.

"Lovers"

Rene Magritte. 1928, oil on canvas

The painting "Lovers" ("Lovers") exists in two versions. In one, a man and a woman, whose heads are wrapped in a white cloth, are kissing, and in the other, they are “looking” at the viewer. The picture surprises and fascinates. With two figures without faces, Magritte conveyed the idea of ​​the blindness of love. About blindness in every sense: lovers do not see anyone, we do not see them true faces and we, and besides, lovers, are a mystery even to each other. But despite this apparent clarity, we still continue to look at Magritte’s lovers and think about them.

Almost all of Magritte’s paintings are puzzles that cannot be completely solved, since they raise questions about the very essence of existence. Magritte always talks about the deceptiveness of the visible, about its hidden mystery, which we usually do not notice.

"Walk"

Marc Chagall. 1917, oil on canvas
State Tretyakov Gallery

"Walk" is a self-portrait with his wife Bella. His beloved is soaring in the sky and will soon drag Chagall, who is standing on the ground precariously, into flight, as if touching her only with the toes of his shoes. Chagall has a tit in his other hand - he is happy, he has both a tit in his hands (probably his painting) and a pie in the sky. Usually extremely serious in his painting, Marc Chagall wrote a delightful manifesto of his own happiness, filled with allegories and love.

"The Garden of Earthly Delights"

Hieronymus Bosch. 1500-1510, wood, oil
Prado, Spain

“The Garden of Earthly Delights” - the most famous triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, which got its name from the theme of the central part, is dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness. The picture is filled with transparent figures, fantastic structures, monsters, hallucinations that have taken on flesh, hellish caricatures of reality, which he looks at with a searching, extremely sharp gaze.

Some scientists wanted to see in the triptych a depiction of human life through the prism of its futility and images of earthly love, others - a triumph of voluptuousness. However, the simplicity and certain detachment with which individual figures are interpreted, as well as the favorable attitude towards this work on the part of the church authorities, make one doubt that its content could be the glorification of bodily pleasures. To date, none of the available interpretations of the painting has been recognized as the only correct one.

"Three Ages of a Woman"

Gustav Klimt. 1905, oil on canvas
National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome

“The Three Ages of a Woman” is both joyful and sad. In it, the story of a woman’s life is written in three figures: carelessness, peace and despair. A young woman is organically woven into the pattern of life, an old woman stands out from it. The contrast between the stylized image of a young woman and the naturalistic image of an old woman becomes symbolic meaning: The first phase of life brings with it endless possibilities and metamorphoses, the last - unchanging constancy and conflict with reality. The canvas doesn’t let go, it gets into the soul and makes you think about the depth of the artist’s message, as well as the depth and inevitability of life.

"Family"

Egon Schiele. 1918, oil on canvas
Belvedere Gallery, Vienna

Schiele was a student of Klimt, but, like any excellent student, he did not copy his teacher, but looked for something new. Schiele is much more tragic, strange and frightening than Gustav Klimt. In his works there is a lot of what could be called pornography, various perversions, naturalism and at the same time aching despair. "Family" - his last work, in which despair is taken to the extreme, despite the fact that it is his least strange-looking picture. He painted it just before his death, after his pregnant wife Edith died of the Spanish flu. He died at 28, just three days after Edith, having painted her, himself, and their unborn child.

"Two Fridas"

Frida Kahlo. 1939

The story of the difficult life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo became widely known after the release of the film "Frida" starring Salma Hayek. Kahlo painted mostly self-portraits and explained it simply: “I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject that I know best.” In not a single self-portrait does Frida Kahlo smile: a serious, even mournful face, fused thick eyebrows, a barely noticeable mustache above tightly compressed lips. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, the background, the figures that appear next to Frida. Kahlo's symbolism is based on national traditions and is closely related to the Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period. In one of best paintings- “Two Fridas” - she expressed the masculine and feminine principles, connected in her by a single circulatory system, demonstrating her integrity.

"Waterloo Bridge. Fog effect"

Claude Monet. 1899, oil on canvas
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

When viewing the painting from a close distance, the viewer sees nothing but the canvas, on which frequent thick oil strokes are applied. The whole magic of the work is revealed when we gradually begin to move away from the canvas to long distance. First, incomprehensible semicircles begin to appear in front of us, passing through the middle of the picture, then we see the clear outlines of boats and, moving away to a distance of approximately two meters, they are sharply drawn in front of us and line up in logical chain all connecting works.

"Number 5, 1948"

Jackson Pollock. 1948, fiberboard, oil

The strangeness of this painting is that the canvas of the American leader of abstract expressionism, which he painted by spilling paint on a piece of fiberboard laid out on the floor, is the most expensive painting in the world. In 2006, at Sotheby's auction they paid $140 million for it. David Giffen, a film producer and collector, sold it to Mexican financier David Martinez. "I continue to move away from the usual tools of the artist, such as an easel, palette and brushes. I prefer sticks, scoops, knives and pouring paint or a mixture of paint and sand, broken glass or something else. When I'm inside a painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. Understanding comes later. I have no fear of changes or destruction of the image, since the picture lives its own own life. I'm just helping her out. But if I lose contact with the painting, the result is dirt and disorder. If not, then it’s pure harmony, the ease of how you take and give.”

"Man and woman in front of a pile of excrement"

Joan Miro. 1935, copper, oil
Joan Miró Foundation, Spain

Good name. And who would have thought that this picture tells us about the horrors of civil wars. The painting was made on copper sheet during the week between October 15 and October 22, 1935. According to Miro, this is the result of an attempt to depict a tragedy Civil War in Spain. Miro said that this is a picture about a period of anxiety. The painting shows a man and a woman reaching out to embrace each other, but not moving. The enlarged genitals and sinister colors were described as "full of disgust and disgusting sexuality."

"Erosion"

Jacek Jerka

The Polish neo-surrealist is known throughout the world for his amazing paintings in which realities combine to create new ones. It is difficult to consider his extremely detailed and, to some extent, touching works one at a time, but this is the format of our material, and we had to choose one to illustrate his imagination and skill. We recommend that you read more.

"The hands resist him"

Bill Stoneham. 1972

This work, of course, cannot be ranked among the masterpieces of world painting, but the fact that it is strange is a fact. There are legends surrounding the painting with a boy, a doll and his hands pressed against the glass. From “people are dying because of this picture” to “the children in it are alive.” The picture looks really creepy, which gives rise to a lot of fears and speculation among people with weak psyches. The artist assured that the picture depicts himself at the age of five, that the door is a representation of the dividing line between real world and the world of dreams, and the doll is a guide who can guide the boy through this world. Hands represent alternative lives or possibilities. The painting gained notoriety in February 2000 when it was listed for sale on eBay with a backstory saying that the painting was "haunted." "Hands Resist Him" ​​was bought for $1,025 by Kim Smith, who was then simply inundated with letters from creepy stories and demands to burn the painting.