Mystical paintings. Cursed paintings What kind of paintings can a person look at for a long time?

Mystical stories and mysteries are associated with many works of painting. Moreover, some experts believe that dark and secret forces are involved in the creation of a number of paintings. There are grounds for such a statement. Too often, amazing facts and inexplicable events happened to these fatal masterpieces - fires, deaths, madness of the authors... One of the most famous “cursed” paintings is “The Crying Boy” - a reproduction of a painting by the Spanish artist Giovanni Bragolin. The story of its creation is as follows: the artist wanted to paint a portrait of a crying child and took his little son as a sitter. But, since the baby could not cry on demand, the father deliberately brought him to tears by lighting matches in front of his face.

There is a belief among many people that an image from a painting can have a magical effect on its owner. There are many known paintings that have a bad reputation. How could this happen?

Mystical stories and mysteries are associated with many works of painting. Too often, amazing facts and inexplicable events happened to these fatal masterpieces - fires, deaths, the madness of the authors...

The Adoration of the Magi was painted in 1654 by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. In the painting, the artist showed that the birth of a child does not bring joy if there is war around and people are killing their own kind. The semantic center of the picture was the sad Virgin Mary with her baby. The model was the artist's cousin. She was a barren woman, for which she received constant blows from her husband. It was she who, as simple medieval Dutch gossiped, “infected” the picture. “The Magi” was bought by private collectors four times. And each time the same story was repeated: no children were born in the family for 10-12 years. Finally, in 1637, the architect Jacob van Kampen bought the painting. By that time he already had three children, so the curse did not particularly frighten him. The work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder is currently on display at the London National Gallery.

One of the most famous “cursed” paintings is “The Crying Boy” - a reproduction of a painting by the Spanish artist Giovanni Bragolin. The story of its creation is as follows: the artist wanted to paint a portrait of a crying child and took his little son as a sitter. But, since the baby could not cry on demand, the father deliberately brought him to tears by lighting matches in front of his face. The artist knew that his son was terrified of fire, but art was dearer to him than the nerves of his own child, and he continued to mock him.

One day, driven to the point of hysteria, the baby could not stand it and shouted, shedding tears: “You yourself will burn!” What the artist told his friends with a smile in the evening, glad that he finally managed to capture the facial expression he needed.
This curse did not take long to come true - two weeks later the boy burned to death from pneumonia, and soon his father also burned alive in his own house... This is the backstory. The painting, or rather its reproduction, gained its ominous fame in 1985 in England.

This happened thanks to a series of strange coincidences - fires in residential buildings began to occur one after another in Northern England. There were human casualties. Some victims who spoke with correspondents mentioned that of all the property, only a cheap reproduction depicting a crying child miraculously survived. And such reports became more and more numerous, until, finally, one of the fire inspectors publicly announced that in all the burned houses, without exception, the “Crying Boy” was found intact.

Immediately, the newspapers were overwhelmed by a wave of letters reporting various accidents, deaths and fires that occurred after the owners bought this painting. Of course, “The Crying Boy” immediately began to be considered cursed, the story of its creation surfaced and became overgrown with rumors and fiction... As a result, one of the newspapers published an official statement that everyone who has this reproduction must immediately get rid of it, and the authorities From now on it is forbidden to purchase and keep it at home.

To this day, “The Crying Boy” is haunted by notoriety, especially in Northern England. By the way, the original has not yet been found. True, some doubters deliberately hung this portrait on their wall, and, it seems, no one was burned. But still there are very few people who want to test the legend in practice.

Another famous “fiery masterpiece” is “Water Lilies” by the impressionist Monet.

Claude Monet painted the painting “Water Lilies (Clouds)” in 1903. Having finished his work, he decided to celebrate with a friendly party, during which a fire started in the artist’s workshop. Fortunately, they were able to quickly extinguish it, and soon they forgot about it, but as it turned out, not for long.

The painting was acquired by the owner of a drinking establishment in Montmartre. A month later, a strong fire started in the cabaret; the canvas was miraculously saved from the fire. After this, the painting was put up for auction. It was bought by a famous Parisian philanthropist. Just a couple of months later, his house burned down, and the fire appeared in the office where the ill-fated painting was located. But this time he was saved. However, now the painting’s reputation as a fire hazard has firmly established itself.

In 1958, "Lilies" was purchased by the New York Museum of Modern Art. Three months passed... A fire started in the hall, severely damaging the painting. Currently, the painting is in the Mormoton Museum, in France, and does not exhibit its “fire hazardous” properties. Bye.

The Royal Museum of Edinburgh houses an old portrait painted on wood of an elderly man with his arm outstretched. Sometimes some museum visitors think that the old man is barely moving his fingers. You can take this for an optical illusion or the play of the sun's rays in the portrait.

However, museum officials claim that sunbeams have nothing to do with it, and the fingers in the portrait actually move from time to time. Moreover, this gesture foreshadows the inevitable... death from fire!
A creepy legend invented in order to attract more visitors to the museum halls? Not at all. Once, Lord Seymour, while examining the exhibition at the Edinburgh Museum, noticed that the old man in the portrait moved his fingers. Lord told the director of the museum about this, and he told him everything he knew about the atomic phenomenon. The lord grinned and, naturally, did not believe a single word. However, several months passed and Lord Seymour died tragically in a fire at his castle, Sittingham.

Another similar incident occurred in 1908. The captain of the ocean liner "Scott" R. Belfast was visiting his parents in Edinburgh. Before his long voyage, he decided to visit the museum and, stopping in front of a mystical painting, suddenly saw that the mysterious old man’s fingers were moving. Knowing about the museum legend, the captain began to beware of fire. However, you cannot escape fate. Belfast realized this six months later, when the Scott liner, located in the Indian Ocean 120 miles from Colombo, was engulfed in fire. The captain fought the fire along with the sailors. As a result, the ship was saved, but Belfast was lost...

Superstitious townspeople even demanded that the director of the museum remove the dangerous painting out of harm's way, but he, of course, did not agree - it is this nondescript portrait of no particular value that attracts most visitors.

The painting “Venus with a Mirror” was painted in 1650 by D. Velazquez. The canvas contains an image of a beautiful and graceful body of a young woman. The painting gained fame due to the fact that all its owners went bankrupt after purchasing the painting.

Its first owner was a Madrid merchant. Having bought the coveted beauty, he very quickly became bankrupt: pirates seized ships with his goods. In order to pay off creditors, he had to sell all his property.
The painting passed to a new owner, who also ran a trading business. However, he did not have time to fully enjoy his new acquisition: lightning struck the warehouse with his goods. The painting was put up at auction, where it was purchased by a wealthy moneylender. A week later, robbers broke into his house, the money lender was killed, and all his gold was stolen. For a long time, the heirs of the murdered man could not sell the painting, which had already become notorious. As a result, they had to donate it to the museum.

And in 1813, the painting came to England, where it was acquired by the London National Gallery. A hundred years later, a misfortune befell the canvas. A fanatical woman with a knife snuck into the museum and damaged the painting. The painting was restored, and at the moment it has become the pride of the London gallery.

The famous “La Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci not only delights, but also frightens people.
In addition to assumptions, fiction, legends about the work itself and about the smile of Mona Lisa, there is a theory that this most famous portrait in the world has an extremely negative effect on the beholder. For example, more than a hundred cases have been officially registered in which visitors who looked at the painting for a long time lost consciousness. The most famous case occurred with the French writer Stendhal, who fainted while admiring a masterpiece. It is known that Mona Lisa herself, who posed for the artist, died young, at the age of 28. And the great master Leonardo himself did not work on any of his creations as long and carefully as on La Gioconda. For six years, until his death, Leonardo rewrote and corrected the painting, but he never fully achieved what he wanted.

Louvre workers, by the way, noted that long breaks in the museum’s work lead to the tarnishing of the Mona Lisa. It gets dark, but as soon as visitors fill the halls of the museum again, the Mona Lisa seems to come to life, rich colors appear, the background brightens, the smile is more clearly visible. A vampire and nothing more!

Dozens of people who in one way or another came into contact with Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream,” whose value experts estimate at $70 million, were exposed to evil fate: they fell ill, quarreled with loved ones, fell into severe depression, or even suddenly died. All this gave the painting a bad reputation, so that museum visitors looked at it with caution, remembering the terrible stories that were told about the masterpiece.

One day, a museum employee accidentally dropped a painting. After some time, he began to have terrible headaches. It must be said that before this incident he had no idea what a headache was. The migraine attacks became more and more frequent and severe, and it ended with the poor man committing suicide. Another time, a museum worker dropped a painting while it was being hung from one wall to another. A week later, he was in a horrific car accident that left him with broken legs, arms, several ribs, a fractured pelvis, and a severe concussion. One of the museum visitors tried to touch the painting with his finger (which was recorded by cameras and museum employees). A few days later, a fire started at his house, in which the man burned to death.

The life of Edvard Munch himself, born in 1863, was a series of endless tragedies and upheavals. Illness, death of relatives, madness. His mother died of tuberculosis when the child was 5 years old. Nine years later, Edward’s beloved sister Sophia died from a serious illness. Then brother Andreas died, and doctors diagnosed his younger sister with schizophrenia.

In the early 90s, Munch suffered a severe nervous breakdown and underwent electroshock treatment for a long time. He never married because the thought of sex terrified him. He died at the age of 81, leaving a huge creative legacy to the city of Oslo: 1,200 paintings, 4,500 sketches and 18 thousand graphic works. But the pinnacle of his work remains, of course, “The Scream.”

Another “cursed” painting that is widely known is the work of Californian surrealist artist Hands Resist Him (Hands Resist Him) by Bill Stoneham. The artist painted it in 1972 from a photograph in which he and his younger sister stand in front of their home. In the picture, a boy with unclear facial features and a doll the size of a living girl froze in front of a glass door, to which the small hands of children are pressed from the inside.

It all started with the fact that the first art critic who saw and appreciated the work died suddenly. Then the picture was acquired by an American actor, who also did not live long.

After his death, the work disappeared for a short time, but then it was accidentally found at a flea market. The family that acquired the nightmarish masterpiece thought of hanging it in the nursery. As a result, the little daughter began to run into her parents’ bedroom every night and scream that the children in the picture were fighting and changing their location. My father installed a motion-sensing camera in the room, and it went off several times during the night.

Of course, the family hastened to get rid of such a gift of fate, and soon Hands Resist Him was put up for online auction. And then numerous letters poured in to the organizers with complaints that while viewing the film, people felt sick, and some had heart attacks. It was bought by the owner of a private art gallery, and now complaints have begun to come to him. Two American exorcists even approached him with offers of their services. And psychics who have seen the picture unanimously claim that evil emanates from it.

Kramskoy’s painting “The Stranger” also did not have the best reputation. The beautiful woman depicted in this portrait is a mystery in itself. The artist never revealed the secret of who the beauty was painted from. Many believed that the unknown woman was a wealthy aristocrat. Others suggested that her clothes and appearance rather marked her as the kept woman of a rich man. Kramskoy responded to all these speculations only with a mysterious smile.

In reality, no one ever met this mysterious stranger, except, perhaps, the painter himself. Be that as it may, the portrait brought misfortune to its owners. Tretyakov did not want to buy the painting. The portrait of the unknown woman began to move from one private collection to another. The first owner's wife left him, the second lost his house in a fire, and the third went completely bankrupt. Kramskoy himself also had misfortunes. A year after writing the masterpiece, he lost two sons one after another.

Soon the picture migrated abroad. But even there its owners were haunted by sorrows and failures. Only in 1925 did the painting return to its homeland. The painting nevertheless took its rightful place in the Tretyakov Gallery. From then on, the portrait apparently lost its mystical properties.

Old collectors, observing the life of paintings for a long time, noticed that the painting seemed to influence the space around and transfer the events depicted on it into real life.

The history of painting tells the story of the fate of the niece of the brilliant Italian composer N. Paccini, whose portrait was painted in 1832 by the wonderful artist Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852). The painting “Horsewoman” depicts a young Giovannina Paccini gracefully prancing on a thin-legged horse. In Rome they said that young Giovannina was lucky, because after the death of her uncle she was taken in by the rich Russian countess Yulia Samoilova, but the happiness did not last long - soon after the painting was painted, the girl was trampled to death by a horse.

It has become the custom that for centuries people have associated misfortunes that have happened with certain pictures. Is this a simple coincidence or not? It remains a mystery why some sitters died immediately after completing their portraits. Apparently, great works also have their own destiny or karma, just like a living person, but, unfortunately, not all paintings have a bright karma. Something to think about...

Mystical stories often occur with some fatal masterpieces of painting. Are dark forces involved in the creation of a number of paintings? Too often inexplicable events occur around them - fires, deaths of sitters, madness of the authors.
When buying a painting, remember that this is a responsible step, since any painting has its own magnetism, which will influence the human psyche in a certain way. Esotericists are firmly convinced that there is a connection between the sitter and his image in the picture, and it is far from the most favorable.

Pictures of arsonists

One of the most famous “cursed” paintings is “The Crying Boy” by the Spanish artist Giovanni Bragolin. The artist wanted to paint a portrait of a crying child and took his little son as the sitter. The baby could not cry on demand, and his father deliberately brought him to tears by lighting matches in front of his face.
The kid was terrified of fire, but the creator valued art more than his own child’s nerves, and he continued to mock him. One day, the boy, driven to hysterics, could not stand it and shouted, shedding tears: “Burn you yourself!” This curse did not take long to come true - two weeks later the boy died of pneumonia, and soon his father was burned alive in his own house.
The reproduction of the painting gained its ominous fame in 1985. In Northern England, residential fires began to occur one after another. There were human casualties. Some victims mentioned that of all the property, only a cheap reproduction depicting a crying child miraculously survived. And such reports became more and more numerous, until, finally, one of the fire inspectors publicly announced that in all the burned houses, without exception, the “Crying Boy” was found intact. Of course, “The Crying Boy” immediately began to be considered cursed, the story of its creation surfaced and became overgrown with rumors and fiction. As a result, one of the newspapers published an official statement that everyone who has this reproduction must get rid of it immediately, and the authorities are henceforth prohibited from purchasing and keeping it at home.
By the way, the original has not yet been found. True, some doubters (especially here in Russia) deliberately hung this portrait on their wall, and, it seems, no one was burned. But still there are very few people who want to test the legend in practice.

"Water lilies"

Another famous “fiery masterpiece” is “Water Lilies” by the impressionist Monet. The artist himself was the first to suffer from it - his workshop almost burned down for unknown reasons.
Then the new owners of “Water Lilies” burned down - a cabaret in Montmartre, the house of a French philanthropist, and even the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Currently, the painting is in the Mormoton Museum, in France, and does not exhibit its “fire hazardous” properties. Bye.

"Portrait of an Elderly Man"

A lesser-known and outwardly unremarkable “arsonist” painting hangs in the Royal Museum of Edinburgh. This is a portrait of an elderly man with his arm outstretched. According to legend, sometimes the fingers on the hand of an old man painted in oil begin to move. And the one who saw this unusual phenomenon will definitely die from fire in the very near future.
Two famous victims of the portrait are Lord Seymour and sea captain Belfast. They both claimed to have seen the old man move his fingers, and both subsequently died in the fire. Superstitious townspeople even demanded that the director of the museum remove the dangerous painting out of harm's way, but he, of course, did not agree - it is this nondescript portrait of no particular value that attracts most visitors.

Pictures of the killer

"Venus with a Mirror"

Velazquez’s painting “Venus with a Mirror” also deservedly enjoyed disrepute. Everyone who bought it either went bankrupt or died a violent death. Even museums did not really want to include its main composition, and the painting constantly changed its “registration”. It ended with the fact that one day a crazy visitor attacked the canvas and cut it with a knife.

"Hands resist him"


Another “cursed” painting that is widely known is the work of Californian surrealist artist Bill Stoneham, “Hands Resist Him.” The artist painted it in 1972 from a photograph in which he and his younger sister stand in front of their home. In the picture, a boy with unclear facial features and a doll the size of a living girl froze in front of a glass door, to which the small hands of children are pressed from the inside. There are many creepy stories associated with this picture. It all started with the fact that the first art critic who saw and appreciated the work died suddenly.
Then the picture was acquired by an American actor, who also did not live long. After his death, the work disappeared for a short time, but then it was accidentally found in a trash heap. The family who picked up the nightmare masterpiece thought of hanging it in the nursery. As a result, the little daughter began to run into her parents’ bedroom every night and scream that the children in the picture were fighting and changing their location. My father installed a motion-sensing camera in the room, and it went off several times during the night. The family hastened to get rid of such a gift of fate and put the painting up for online auction. And then numerous letters poured in to the organizers with complaints that while viewing the film, people felt sick, and some even had heart attacks. It was bought by the owner of a private art gallery, and now complaints have begun to come to him. Two American exorcists even approached him with offers of their services. And psychics who have seen the picture unanimously claim that evil emanates from it.
Photo – prototype of the painting “Hands Resist Him”:

But here is a painting by the same author, only many years later:

"Troika"


Everyone knows the painting “Troika” by Perov from school. This touching and sad picture depicts three peasant children from poor families who are pulling a heavy load, harnessed to it in the manner of draft horses. In the center is a blond little boy. Perov was looking for a child for the picture until he met a woman with a 12-year-old son named Vasya, who were walking through Moscow on a pilgrimage.
Vasya remained the only consolation of his mother, who buried her husband and other children. At first she did not want her son to pose for the painter, but then she agreed. However, soon after the painting was completed, the boy died. It is known that after the death of her son, a poor woman came to Perov, begging him to sell her a portrait of her beloved child, but the painting was already hanging in the Tretyakov Gallery. True, Perov responded to his mother’s grief and painted a portrait of Vasya separately especially for her.

"Demon Defeated"

One of the brightest and most extraordinary geniuses of Russian painting, Mikhail Vrubel, has works that are also associated with the personal tragedies of the artist himself. Thus, the portrait of his beloved son Savva was painted by him shortly before the child’s death. Moreover, the boy fell ill unexpectedly and died suddenly. And “The Defeated Demon” had a detrimental effect on the psyche and health of Vrubel himself.
The artist could not tear himself away from the picture, he continued to add to the face of the defeated Spirit, and also change the color. “The Defeated Demon” was already hanging at the exhibition, and Vrubel kept coming into the hall, not paying attention to the visitors, sat down in front of the painting and continued to work, as if possessed. Those close to him became concerned about his condition, and he was examined by the famous Russian psychiatrist Bekhterev. The diagnosis was terrible - tabes spinal cord, near madness and death. Vrubel was admitted to the hospital, but the treatment did not help, and he soon died.

"Maslenitsa"
An interesting story is connected with the painting “Maslenitsa”, which for a long time adorned the hall of the Ukraine Hotel. It hung and hung, no one really looked at it, until it suddenly became clear that the author of this work was a mentally ill person named Kuplin, who in his own way copied the painting by the artist Antonov. Actually, there is nothing particularly terrible or outstanding in the picture of a mentally ill person, but for six months it excited the vastness of the Runet.
Antonov's painting

Kuplin's painting

One student wrote a blog post about her in 2006. Its essence boiled down to the fact that, according to a professor at one of the Moscow universities, there is one hundred percent, but not obvious sign in the picture, by which it is immediately clear that the artist is crazy. And even supposedly based on this sign, you can immediately make a correct diagnosis. But, as the student wrote, the cunning professor did not discover the sign, but only gave vague hints. And so, they say, people, help whoever can, because I can’t find it myself, I’m all exhausted and tired. It’s not hard to imagine what started here.
The post spread throughout the network, many users rushed to look for the answer and scold the professor. The picture gained wild popularity, as did the student’s blog and the professor’s name. No one was able to solve the riddle, and in the end, when everyone was tired of this story, they decided:
1. There is no sign, and the professor deliberately “misdirected” the students so that they would not skip lectures.
2. The professor is a psycho himself (even facts were cited that he was actually treated abroad).
3. Kuplin associated himself with the snowman who looms in the background of the picture, and this is the main solution to the mystery.
4. There was no professor, and the whole story was a brilliant flash mob.
By the way, many original guesses for this sign were also given, but none of them was recognized as correct. The story gradually faded away, although even now you can sometimes come across echoes of it on the RuNet. As for the picture, for some it really makes an eerie impression and causes unpleasant sensations.

"Portrait of Maria Lopukhina"

During Pushkin’s time, the portrait of Maria Lopukhina was one of the main “horror stories”. The girl lived a short and unhappy life, and after painting the portrait she died of consumption. Her father Ivan Lopukhin was a famous mystic and master of the Masonic lodge. That is why rumors spread that he had managed to lure the spirit of his deceased daughter into this portrait. And that if young girls look at the picture, they will soon die. According to the salon gossips, the portrait of Maria destroyed at least ten noblewomen of marriageable age...
The rumors were put to rest by the philanthropist Tretyakov, who in 1880 bought the portrait for his gallery. There was no significant mortality among female visitors. The conversations died down. But the residue remained.

"Scream"


Dozens of people who in one way or another came into contact with Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream,” whose value experts estimate at $70 million, were exposed to evil fate: they fell ill, quarreled with loved ones, fell into severe depression, or even suddenly died. All this gave the painting a bad reputation, so that museum visitors looked at it with caution, remembering the terrible stories that were told about the masterpiece.
One day, a museum employee accidentally dropped a painting. After some time, he began to have terrible headaches. It must be said that before this incident he had no idea what a headache was. The migraine attacks became more and more frequent and severe, and it ended with the poor man committing suicide.
Another time, a museum worker dropped a painting while it was being hung from one wall to another. A week later, he was in a horrific car accident that left him with broken legs, arms, several ribs, a fractured pelvis, and a severe concussion.
One of the museum visitors tried to touch the painting with his finger. A few days later, a fire started at his house, in which the man burned to death.
The life of Edvard Munch himself, born in 1863, was a series of endless tragedies and upheavals. Illness, death of relatives, madness. His mother died of tuberculosis when the child was 5 years old. Nine years later, Edward’s beloved sister Sophia died from a serious illness. Then brother Andreas died, and doctors diagnosed his younger sister with schizophrenia.
In the early 90s, Munch suffered a severe nervous breakdown and underwent electroshock treatment for a long time. He never married because the thought of sex terrified him. He died at the age of 81, leaving a huge creative legacy to the city of Oslo: 1200 paintings, 4500 sketches and 18 thousand graphic works. But the pinnacle of his work remains, of course, “The Scream.”

"Flora"

The beloved wife of the great painter Rembrandt, known from his painting “Flora,” died 8 years after the wedding. Next came his own children, whom the artist painted especially often. Three died in infancy, the fourth only lived to be 27 years old. The second wife, depicted on many of the master’s canvases, also suddenly passed away.

"Adoration of the Magi"

Leonardo da Vinci took two years to write The Adoration of the Magi. He “copied” the Virgin Mary from his cousin. She was a barren woman, for which she received constant blows from her husband. It was she who, as simple medieval Dutch gossiped, “infected” the picture. “The Magi” was bought by private collectors four times. And each time the same story was repeated: no children were born in the family for 10-12 years...
Finally, in 1637, the architect Jacob van Kampen bought the painting. By that time he already had three children, so the curse did not particularly frighten him.

"Girl with Peaches"

It is known for certain that many of the models of the Russian artist Serov died soon after posing sessions. The most mysterious was the death of the young model depicted in the famous painting “Girl Illuminated by the Sun,” popularly called “Girl with Peaches.”

"Japanese Schoolgirl"

Probably the most famous bad picture of the Internet space with the following story: A certain schoolgirl (Japanese is often mentioned) drew this picture before cutting her veins (throwing herself out of a window, taking pills, hanging herself, drowning herself in a bathtub).
If you look at her for 5 minutes in a row, the girl will change (her eyes will turn red, her hair will turn black, fangs will appear). In fact, it is clear that the picture was clearly not drawn by hand, as many people like to claim. Although how this picture appeared, no one gives clear answers.

"Rain Woman"

The following painting hangs modestly without a frame in one of the shops in Vinnitsa. “Rain Woman” is the most expensive of all works: it costs $500. According to the sellers, the painting has already been bought three times and then returned. Clients explain that they dream about her. And someone even says that they know this lady, but they don’t remember where. And everyone who has ever looked into her white eyes will forever remember the feeling of a rainy day, silence, anxiety and fear.
The author of the painting is Vinnytsia artist Svetlana Telets. “In 1996, I graduated from Odessa Art University. Grekova,” recalls Svetlana. “And six months before the birth of “Woman,” it always seemed to me that someone was constantly watching me. I drove such thoughts away from myself, and then one day I clearly saw the contours of a woman, her face, colors, shades. In an instant I noticed all the details of the image. I wrote the main thing quickly - I finished it in about five hours. It seemed as if someone was guiding my hand. And then I finished painting for another month.”
Arriving in Vinnitsa, Svetlana exhibited the painting in a local art salon. Art connoisseurs came up to her every now and then and shared the same thoughts that she herself had during her work.
A few years ago the first customer appeared. She walked around the halls for a long time, looking closely. Having bought “Woman”, I hung it in my bedroom.
Two weeks later, a night call rang in Svetlana’s apartment: “Please pick her up. I can not sleep. It seems that there is someone in the apartment besides me. I even took it off the wall and hid it behind the closet, but I still can’t.”
Then a young man bought the painting. And I also couldn’t stand it for long. He brought it to the artist himself. And he didn’t even take the money back.
“I dream about her,” he complained. - Every night he appears and walks around me like a shadow. I'm starting to go crazy. I'm afraid of this picture!
The third buyer, having learned about the notoriety of the “Woman,” simply waved it off. He even said that he thought the sinister lady’s face was cute. And she will probably get along with him. Didn't get along.
“At first I didn’t notice how white her eyes were,” he recalled. “And then they started appearing everywhere.” Headaches began, causeless worries. Do I need it?!
So “Rain Woman” returned to the artist again. Rumor spread throughout the city that this painting was cursed. It can drive you crazy in one night. The artist herself is no longer happy that she painted such horror. However, Sveta does not lose optimism yet:
- Each painting is born for a specific person. I believe that there will be someone for whom “Woman” was written. Someone is looking for her - just like she is looking for him.

Art, from the moment it appeared on the cave walls of primitive man, has excited and influenced humanity. As soon as the artist's brush touches the canvas, the real process of creation begins. The author not only does his job, he puts his soul and part of himself into his work. Streams of energy seem to flow from the fingertips, move along the brush and stop on the canvas.

This is why we literally feel that the paintings of real artists look and feel “as if they were alive.” Plots and images can cause tears, depression, disgust in a person, or, conversely, a feeling of joy and happiness.

However, the question arises: Can paintings influence our lives as a whole?

In this article you will get acquainted with the stories of paintings that can cause a slight chill. Even photographs of some of them are, if not terrifying, then certainly unpleasant. If anything, we have warned you!!!

1. "The hands resist him"

Let's start with perhaps the most notorious painting - “The Hands Resist Him” by Bill Stoneham. It became so “famous” that it was called “the most ghostly painting in the world.”

In 1972, while Stoneham was living with his wife in California, he was under contract to Charles Feingarten Gallery. According to the contract, the artist had to create two paintings per month.

The deadline for the work was coming to an end, and Stoneham decided to paint a picture based on his old photographs where he was 5 years old. He named this painting in honor of the poem that his wife wrote for Stoneham himself (the poem was about how Bill was adopted as a child, but he never knew anything about his biological parents).

The resulting image depicts a boy with a creepy, eyeless doll standing next to him. According to Stoneham, the boy is himself at the age of 5, and the doorway in the painting represents a barrier between the real world (where the hands are depicted) and the world of dreams. At the same time, the doll is a guide to the world of fantasy.

As for the hands, the artist said mysteriously: “Hands could mean anything... But, you will definitely have a question: Are these hands without a body? The body was dismembered, and the hands themselves? Or are they still there, with the body?”

The painting was exhibited at the Feingarten Gallery in Beverly Hills, California. This painting was mentioned in the Los Angeles Times in an article by art critic Henry Seldis. At this exhibition, the painting attracted the attention of actor John Marley, who played the role of Jack Waltz in The Godfather. He liked it so much that he decided to buy it.

Within one year after the creation of the painting, three people died at once: art critic Seldis, gallery owner Feingarten and actor Marley. After that, the painting seemed to disappear, until in 2000 the couple found it left behind by someone behind a brewery (which, by the way, had been turned into an art space) in California.

They took this painting for themselves, considering it a good acquisition. In February of the same year, they put it up for sale on eBay, explaining that this painting carries horror, and in general it is cursed and ghosts come out of it. Their announcement was more like a warning than an announcement.

Fully capitalized and misspelled, the ad contained a mini-story about why they decided to get rid of the painting. According to the couple, their 4-year-old daughter said that she saw the children from the picture come into the room at night and start fighting.

The woman herself (the girl’s mother) does not believe in UFOs and similar things, but her husband decided to install a camera. The camera filmed for three nights in a row.

In the end, the couple received pictures confirming their daughter's words. In a photo they posted on eBay, the doll is allegedly holding a gun, threatening a boy. The couple also asked in their announcement not to make any claims after purchasing the painting.

This ad has been viewed over 30,000 times. In the comments, people wrote that they felt sick as soon as they saw these photos. Some people tried to print them, but the printer gave an error or broke down.

Some claimed that when viewing the photo they felt warm currents of air that enveloped them and whispered various things in their ears in children's voices. And someone even set fire to sage to cleanse their living space of evil spirits after browsing an eBay page.

As a result, the painting was bought by Kim Smith, owner of Perception Gallery in Michigan, for $1,025. A year later, a paranormal website contacted Smith and asked whether anything paranormal had happened after purchasing this painting or not.

Smith, in her response, said that the painting itself did not bring her any failures or troubles, but letters from people with advice on how to clean the room, how to protect yourself with the help of a shaman, definitely drove her crazy.

The gallery workers turned to the artist himself with a question about the gun in the doll’s hands. The artist confidently and even with a bit of irony answered that there was no gun there. Normal digital noise and interference that distorts the original image.

The painting is currently in the gallery's storage and has only been exhibited 6 times. Each time the picture caused fear among gallery visitors. The artist himself subsequently created a sequel to the painting (2 paintings, one of which depicted the same characters 40 years later). But, alas, they did not hide any mystery, and certainly did not bring misfortune to anyone.

2. Portrait of Bernardo de Galvez

At the end of the hallway at the Galvez Hotel in Galveston, Texas, hangs a portrait of Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish commander who helped American troops during the Civil War. Also, the city itself is named in his honor.

Despite the fact that Galvez died in 1786, rumors about his ghost appeared during his lifetime. Guests and hotel employees claimed that the eyes in the portrait followed them as they walked down the corridor.

One of the strangest aspects is that Galvez does not allow his portrait to be photographed without “permission.”

People claim that any photo taken without permission comes out blurry, or produces unexplained orbs, fogs, streaks, or even ghosts. A group of paranormal researchers decided to check if this is actually true.

A cold shiver ran through them when they realized that unless you asked permission from the painting, the pictures turned out blurry.

3. "Crying Boy"

In fact, this is not one picture, but a whole series. In 1950, Italian artist Bruno Amadio, also known as Giovanni Bragolin, painted more than 65 portraits of crying orphans, which he sold as souvenirs to tourists.

Very quickly his paintings became popular in England and they began to be copied en masse. And until the 1980s, nothing strange happened.

Beginning in 1985, firefighters began to claim that they were finding completely intact copies of "The Crying Boy" among the ashes and rubble of burned houses. Copies were always placed face down on the floor. In more than 50 houses, paintings inexplicably escaped the fire.

Numerous psychics have stated that the ghosts of orphans killed during World War II haunted these paintings. This whole story has reached the level of an urban legend.

It should be noted that the original story appeared in the British tabloid newspaper The Sun, so many did not believe everything that was happening.

The Sun, to verify the legend, organized a massive bonfire for the owners of the paintings. When they brought the reproductions to the general burning, they discovered that the copies burned surprisingly very slowly.

There is even one video on the BBC where one guy tried to burn a copy, pointing out that it burns slower than a normal copy of any other painting.

Maybe we should blame those who covered the copies of paintings with fire-resistant varnish?

4. "Martyr"

Undoubtedly, this is an eerie and scary picture. It was allegedly stored for 25 years in the attic of the grandmother of a man named Sean Robinson. According to the grandmother, the artist, when creating the painting, mixed his blood with paint, and immediately after its completion he committed suicide.

She also said that from the painting one could hear various voices, screams and tears, and as the grandmother believed, the painting was haunted by the spirit of the creator. All this forced the old woman to hide the painting in the attic.

In 2010, Robinson inherited the painting, and almost immediately his family allegedly encountered a series of strange events. Robinson stated that after he took over the Martyr, his son was pushed down the stairs by unseen forces; his wife often felt something stroking her hair, and the whole family heard the screams and crying that Robinson's grandmother described.

Robinson even decided to place a camera next to the painting to record paranormal activity, and then uploaded the recording to YouTube. The video he received showed the painting itself falling to the floor, and the doors in the house periodically slamming. And sometimes strange smoke emanated from the painting.

Many users, after watching the video, claimed that it was a hoax. Robinson has reportedly locked the cursed painting in his basement and refuses to sell it.

5. Painting with a headless man

Our next unusual painting is, in fact, a painting painted from a photograph. In the mid-1990s, an artist known only as Laura P. made a living by creating paintings from photographs. One day, her attention was drawn to a strange photo taken by photographer James Kidd.

In the photo, an old stagecoach is depicted in the foreground, and the image of a headless man appears to the side. Kidd insisted that this was not the case when he developed the photo. This became clear over time. Laura couldn't explain what attracted her to the photo, but she was overcome by an irresistible desire to paint a picture.

The artist reported that almost immediately after she started painting, she could not overcome feelings of fear and anxiety. For a very long time she did not dare to complete what she started, and when the test was over, the painting ended up in the local office.

Workers in the office claimed that as soon as the painting came to them, documents began to disappear in the office, and objects changed their locations. After 3 days the painting was returned to the author. When Laura moved with her husband to a new house, the painting, along with a mysterious force, moved with them.

In the new home, the couple repeatedly heard various abnormal sounds, such as banging, footsteps and other less identifiable noises, which always seemed to take place in the vicinity of the painting. In addition, other strange phenomena began to occur with increasing frequency.

Very soon things began to move around the house, doors opened, the roof began to leak, although everything was fine with it. One incident was incredibly creepy: the glass Laura was drinking from suddenly burst in her hand, and a large shard of glass disappeared without a trace.

Laura regretted painting this picture and expressed a desire to destroy it.

6. "Love Letters"

The list of cursed paintings will be supplemented by a portrait of a little girl, which can be seen at The Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas, USA.

The girl in the painting is very similar to another girl named Samantha Houston, the 4-year-old daughter of a US senator who died while staying at the hotel.

She fell down the stairs while chasing a ball. Guests and employees have reported that the girl in the painting sometimes changes her facial expression. There is also numerous evidence that the picture “makes” you feel bad, and that it makes you feel dizzy and nauseous.

Perhaps the ghost of the senator’s daughter fell in love with this portrait and decided to “dwell” in it.

7. "Dead Mother"

Another painting “Dead Mother” by Edvard Munch (author of the painting “The Scream”). If anyone doesn’t know, Munch almost went crazy as a child. He was raised by his father, whom everyone in the area knew for his religious fanaticism, and his mother and his sisters died of tuberculosis when he was only 5 years old.

This picture seems to some extent reflect his melancholy, despair and madness. Munch spoke about his work in his characteristic manner: “Illness, madness and death were the dark angels who watched over my cradle.”

People who once owned this painting claimed that the girl’s eyes were constantly following them, and the sheets on her mother’s bed made noise or moved. Sometimes the image of the girl left the picture.

8. “Man proposes, but God disposes”

In the art gallery of Royal Holloway College, which is a university in London, hangs a painting called “Man Proposes, God Disposes,” painted by Sir Edwin Landseer. The painting depicts an Arctic expedition team with their leader Sir John Franklin. This team was not destined to survive.

They're not just stuck in the Arctic ice... They're being eaten by polar bears. This picture drives students crazy, distracts them from the exam (exams are often held in the gallery), which they then “successfully” fail.

Sometimes it is draped with the Union Jack flag. According to student legend, one student lost her mind and committed suicide in front of the audience. True or not, this is enough to get rid of the picture once and for all.

This review covers only the most famous paintings. What is it, truth or lie... It's up to you to decide. But one thing is clear: paintings are not just images. They have mystery and hidden power.

It's no secret that every work carries a piece of the soul and thoughts of its creator. There are well-known stories about writers and poets predicting certain events in their lives and even “guessing” the date of their death. Composers can influence the subconscious and emotional state of people with their music; actors playing other people's roles on stage can unwittingly repeat the fate of their heroes. But, perhaps, the greatest mystical meaning has been attached to paintings since ancient times. Some paintings are great creations of legendary artists and keep many mysteries and secrets. Some of these paintings are called cursed, they are feared and avoided in every possible way. People believe that they have negative, evil energy and bring misfortune to their owners. Even if you don’t keep these paintings in your home, but just admire the image in some museum for a long time, you can still experience negative consequences, get injured, or even die.

One of the paintings that researchers have been studying for a long time is “The Adoration of the Magi.” In their opinion, it has a detrimental effect on women and leads to infertility. This has been established for certain. So, one day a young woman, who was Bruegel the Elder’s cousin, posed for him when he created the image of the Virgin Mary. After writing the work, it turned out that she could no longer have children. And this was not the only case. History repeated itself over and over again.

Many years later, collectors who decorated their collections with this work also found themselves childless or infertile. Probably, this feature of the painting was well known, and therefore its last owner was a father with many children, who did not want any more children and gladly purchased this “guarantor” of childlessness for his collection.

The painting is now in London in the National Gallery of Art. Further research was no longer carried out, and therefore how many more women suffered from the picture is unknown.

“Venus with a Mirror” is another, but more sinister painting. It is known for the fact that it can ruin and even kill its owner and other innocent members of his family. This painting was created by the famous Spanish painter Diego Velazquez. Historically, its owners acquired many problems along with the painting. So, the first owner of this work of art was a wealthy merchant, who soon went bankrupt. Afterwards this happened several more times.

Another well-known painting is “The Crying Boy.” Perhaps this picture caused the greatest amount of noise at the time.

We are not talking about the painting itself, but about reproductions of the painting “The Crying Boy” by the talented Spanish painter Giovanni Bragolina, all of whose owners, without exception, suddenly and almost simultaneously, became fire victims. After the public outcry caused by these cases, in England it was completely prohibited to sell and keep this painting in the house under threat of legal proceedings.

The fires caused by this “boy” shocked the whole world. Information about the events in Great Britain that took place in 1985 came again and again and did not leave the front pages of newspapers.

So, England was overwhelmed by a wave of sudden fires of unknown cause, completely unrelated to each other. In all these cases, there was only one thing in common: in all the burnt houses there was a reproduction of the same painting “The Crying Boy”, and, oddly enough, the fires started from the room where this cheap reproduction was located. At that time, it was found in many homes, as it was very popular and was sold in almost every store. This could be considered a mere coincidence, if not for one nuance: in all cases, without a single exception, this canvas managed to avoid damage, while all the things around it burned to the ground.

Repeated fires over and over again could not hide from public attention. Finally, all the newspapers were full of information that firefighters in different cities, while extinguishing fires that broke out for no reason, found reproductions of the painting “The Crying Boy.”

A lot has been said about this story and, in order not to repeat itself, it is worth noting that the mass burning of reproductions of paintings in the city square is a blatant incident in history.

The beautiful painting “Water Lilies” by the impressionist Claude Monet also caused a lot of noise. When he finished working on this painting, he decided to organize a festive buffet in his studio. Quite suddenly, in the midst of the celebration, a fire broke out there. Fortunately, the fire was extinguished. However, the case turned out to be not an isolated one. To be more precise, it was not only the artist who suffered. When the owner of the painting was found and it passed into his hands, a fire also started in his house, but the painting survived - they managed to save it. Then the owner changed - the painting ended up in Paris with a wealthy collector. Exactly a year later, his house was destroyed in a fire. And again the picture remained intact and unharmed.

As a result, the painting found a home in a museum in New York. And, as incredible as it may sound, a fire also unexpectedly occurred in the museum building. The painting could no longer survive this fire and received quite severe damage.

Whether there is a connection between these fires is not known for certain. However, as they say, one case may be random, but four is very similar to a pattern. Different people, different countries and even different times. And in all these cases there is only one thing in common - a picture of water lilies.

The shocking picture “Hands Protecting Him” is not recommended for people with weak mental health to look at. After all, even in completely healthy, calm people, the canvas caused a state of shock and attacks of sudden panic. Hysteria, moving from joy and incredible excitement to a feeling of grief and stupor.

This painting was written by American Bill Stoneham. She depicts a boy with a frightening facial expression and a disproportionately large head, and a girl - a doll with frighteningly empty black eyes. Behind the children there is a scary glass door, to which, from the inside, the child’s hands are pressed.

The very first owner of this work was a wealthy American. Shortly after acquiring this work of art, he died suddenly. Afterwards, the painting “passed” into the possession of the famous actor Bob Marley. But he did not live long after the purchase.

Some time later, ordinary people found this painting in a garbage dump and decided to take it for themselves. The painting was hung in the most “honorable” place, but it did not please the owners for long. The very next night, their young child, in a state of shock and with an expression of horror on his face, ran into his parents’ room and with tears told how the picture frightened him. According to the child, the children in the picture began to hit each other.

The first time the parents managed to calm the child down, they probably decided that the girl was making up something. However, the next night the child came running in tears again and said that children were walking around the room! Then the frightened parents installed a security camera in the room, what was their horror when the camera went off twice during the night, catching some kind of movement.

The owners of the house were so scared that they decided to get rid of the strange painting. They put the painting up for auction, hoping to sell it as quickly as possible. With the appearance of the painting at the auction, visitors began to experience strange feelings and health problems, dizziness and hellish headaches, they fought in hysterics and trembled with unknown fear, and sometimes even lost consciousness. They began to blame the painting for everything, but human greed knows no fear. The “sensational” painting was bought for a private collection and, no matter how the owner was asked to get rid of the canvas, he flatly refused. He was probably driven by greed - after all, mystical paintings with their own history, which everyone hears, although they consider them cursed, are, nevertheless, unique. There is always a chance to sell such a masterpiece to some enthusiastic person for many times more than it was purchased for. We are talking about colossal amounts.

The painting “The Scream” is considered the true embodiment of the suffering and torment of the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. It depicts something that very vaguely resembles a human being. In fact, the face of this creature is similar to the mask of the killer from the famous horror film “Scream” (maybe it was this picture that inspired the director?). The painting is a kind of symbol representing the life and fate of the unfortunate, sick artist.

It so happened that people who in one way or another came into contact with this work of art, or, God forbid, who harmed it, eventually began to experience its destructive effects, even to the point of threatening their own lives. Several museum workers who handled the painting carelessly soon died in terrible agony. One had a serious accident and broke almost all the bones in his body, another fell ill with an incurable disease, and the third was burned to death in his own home.

By the way, one of the visitors also died from the fire, who, while visiting the art gallery, looked at “The Scream” for a long time, and then decided to touch the painting with his hands.

They say that now this work has an owner - a private collector who was not afraid of the curse and bought “The Scream” at auction. Who he is and what the fate of this man is remains a mystery, since the buyer decided to remain incognito.

Surprisingly, the fact remains that there are paintings that feed on the life and energy of their sitters and creators.

People posing for great artists died one after another, literally immediately after the artist finished painting their portrait. Such tragic events haunted the sitters of Rubens, Somov, Borovikovsky, Vrubel, Repin, Serov, Petrov, Modigliani, Rembrandt and many others. These artists have one thing in common: the tragic death of their sitters. All these people were victims of some kind of misfortune.

By the way, if you delve into the study of the biography of these artists, then their own lives, in most cases, cannot be called happy and cloudless.

It is not known for certain what is the reason for all this, but it is not without reason that since ancient times ordinary people have been afraid and tried in every way to avoid having their portrait painted. Needless to say, even in an advanced modern society, you can meet people who firmly believe in the mystical power of such portraits. In Islam, portraits are prohibited; other religions prohibit even taking photos as a souvenir.