Digg has pointed me to a really interesting meme that is being spread across the Russian blogosphere (and is now infecting the States). It is about this painting (allegedly by an insane person:
Which is seemingly a recreation of this one:
Now here’s the deal:
There have been thousands of comments and guesses (all of which are fascinating), and the original professor is said to have showed up and is allegedly reading all the comments before announcing anything. The most recent developments, I guess, are going to be on this page. I am anxiously awaiting some answer because, frankly, I have no clue what it might be.The person who posted a scan of this painting says the following:
- This was painted by a person with a rare and severe mental disorder. He was constantly seeing his own fantasies all around him. He also had a certain phobia (undisclosed).
- His (the poster’s) psychiatry professor showed this painting in a lecture, and said there was one tell-tale sign in it that showed the painter’s insanity.
- The professor didn’t say what that sign was, leaving the students to do the guesswork. The only clues he gave was, “don’t look for small details, look at the whole; if you figure out what the phobia was, you’ve got the answer; ask yourself what could have preceded this scene; think of what the place would look like with all the objects removed”.
- The professor said that during the 15 years of his teaching, only one student had figured it out.
Whether or this is real or the biggest hoax on the internet in some time, it is pretty damn interesting. And certainly worth passing on. Anyone have some guesses? The link to comment is now right up there near the title of the post in case you missed it.
UPDATE: It is a hoax, after all. Or at least, there is no answer just yet and none in sight.
4 comments:
Dude, I don't even get which painting is the one made by the insane guy???
hey, sorry, it's the first one. I'll clarify that in the post.
also, it looks like the whole thing may be a hoax. I'll update when I find out the truth.
I don't know if it's a hoax ... otherwise where would they get the images? Besides, if people started calling my house and shit about something I put on a blog for fun, I would pull it offline too.
Madness has a kind of romance to it ... I think that's why people got so into this meme.
Anyway, in the painting supposedly by the insane guy, the sleds are at a much steeper angle than in the original. And the horses are at an opposing angle. This leads me to support the theory that the sleds are over ice that broke and they are sinking. It's small and hard to see but it doesn't look like the kids are smiling, either. Nor are they crying for help. They're like "oh ... we're going to die. ok."
And, if you take all the objects out of the picture, it would look like the horses broke the ice and they are sinking, the horses are in a panic, but the kids who are also about to die are kinda complacent.
Pretty insane. If it was in fact by an insane dude. Or maybe it's just subliminally creepy.
I like your take on it, and think you're dead on about the romantic nature of insanity. Especially surrounding art.
We may never know the truth about this painting, and I'm sure that'll drive some people mad.
Maybe they'll like it, though.
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