Do you like mysticism? Scary stories that make you tremble? Do you look cautiously around when you hear stories about horrible crimes, strange things, voices, sounds and other damn things that come from somewhere? Are you uncomfortable in a dark room, especially if nobody is around? Then rather take the hand of someone from the house or, in extreme cases, call your four-legged pet - a dog, cat or hamster - and read, read, read!
Mystical artist
Mikhail Bulgakov is called one of the most mystical writers of Russian literature of the past century. And here is the Italian painter of Spanish descent Bruno Amadio - a dramatic and sinister artist of the 20th century. His name is surrounded by rumors and legends, and the most famous painting - “The Crying Boy” - still causes many rumors, disputes among experts and ordinary people. The creative pseudonym of Amadio is Giovanni Bragolin. He lived a fairly long human and creative life, leaving a number of interesting paintings on which children are imprinted. The painting "The Crying Boy" belongs to the same series. More than 20 portraits, from where the eyes of little children full of tears, anger, despair, longing and pain look at, amaze with their insecurity, touchingness and completely childish doom. What did the artist want to say with them? He himself was often called the devil painter - for the eccentricity of his work.
Children's cycle
An interview with him was not preserved in the press, and there are practically no any art studies on creativity either. We know that he was a member of World War II, then worked in Venice, was a restoration artist. The painting "The Crying Boy", like the rest of the "Gypsy Cycle", was written by the author for tourists. The very idea of ​​a painting series came to the author’s head under the impressions of those scenes of children's suffering that he saw. The critics gave the name of the cycle, most likely, because the little sitters have a completely untidy appearance: their faces are dirty, their hair is disheveled, their clothes are poor, ragged, untidy. Although nothing gypsy - no external national signs - in the children is not noticeable. Oddly enough, but the work of Amadi was very popular. For example, the painting “The Crying Boy” in reproductions was sold out in large numbers in the 70s and 80s, especially among the middle and poor. Dates of life of Giovanni Bragolin - 1911 - 1981
Riddle one
As already mentioned, the attitude to the canvas, which is discussed in the article, is rather ambiguous. What, in addition to the plot, is the painting “The Crying Boy” unusual? The history of its creation deserves special attention and research. The first mystery lies here, for there are several versions of how the portrait was painted. One consonant, Bruno Amadio had a little son. And the painting “The Crying Boy”, history claims, conveys precisely its appearance. The child was quite nervous, shy. And he was especially afraid of fire - tongues of flame in the stove, a lit candle, and even matches. Bragolin worked in a realistic genre and tried to follow the truth of life as accurately as possible. Psychological detail was also extremely important to him. Therefore, according to legends, when the painting “The Crying Boy” by Giovanni Bragolin was written, the artist deliberately set fire to matches for his son and brought them close to his face in order to naturally convey horror in children's eyes, indignation and anger, and cause natural, true tears. No matter how unnatural the rumors sound, it is easy to believe in them. Remember the father of the great Amadeus Mozart! He also forced his son to play music for 14-16 hours a day. How many stories about despots-parents you know! So it may well be that the painting of the Spanish artist “The Crying Boy” is really a portrait of his unhappy son, the victim of a cruel father.
Mystery with sequel
However, the legend continues. Rumors say that in the end, the desperate kid wished his father to burn out along with the matches that scared him. Soon, the child died of severe pneumonia. And a little later, a terrible fire broke out in the artist's studio. Burned all the work there. And only the ill-fated portrait remained untouched. It was even rumored that a charred corpse of Amadio himself was found in the room. However, this is already an exaggeration: it is known that in fact the artist died of cancer of the esophagus. But here is the painting “The Crying Boy”, the photo of which you see, and the truth is not particularly affected. It was then that the rumor arose for the first time that the angry soul of a child moved into the canvas, and he began to take revenge on the offenders.
The second riddle
The second version of the version of how Amadio painted his “Boy” is this: in 1973, on one of the Venetian streets, he saw a small ragman, an inhabitant of an orphanage (or a street child). The appearance of the latter was so colorful that Bruno convinced him to pose for a picture. Very soon after finishing work, the boy died under the wheels of a car (according to other sources, the orphanage with its unfortunate inhabitants was burned down). What happened next - you already guessed, of course. All the same fire in the studio of the painter, the fire devours everything except the fateful portrait. This is how the legend about the painting “The Crying Boy” “gained momentum”. Reproductions from her and other works by Giovanni Bragolin under the general title “Crying Children” were happy to host various art galleries in the world.
Mysticism or reality
In the mid-80s of the last century, England was in a panic. A series of fires of various properties swept across the country. In some apartments there was a gas explosion, in others - short circuits in the power supply network, in the third - some other violations of safety measures, operation of household appliances. But the public would not pay attention to these tragedies (after all, every time there were human casualties), if not for one “but”. In all the burnt rooms hung reproductions of Amadio's works. Especially often the cursed picture “The Crying Boy” was already known to you. The inhabitants firmly decided: the kid, offended and pissed off all over the world, takes revenge on this soulless, cruel society. Indeed, in every ashes, amid the general collapse and ruin, only this picture remained safe and sound. Moreover, when for the purposes of the experiment the journalists of one of the London newspapers (the publication drew readers' attention to the strangeness of the incidents in order to increase the circulation) wanted to burn several copies of the reproductions - the paper did not burn, and no one could explain this phenomenon. The only cue that the quality of the paper is high, and therefore does not burn, did not hold water. What is also interesting: mostly poor families were the victims - for some reason “The Crying Boy” and other works of the series were especially popular with such a contingent.
Eyes to eyes
We have already devoted quite a lot of time to the history of the painting. We figured out why it is “damned” and what a mystical halo surrounds the canvas. The time has come to study the masterpiece itself. Note, however, that the original was not found to this day. So, in the foreground paintings of the artist Giovanni Bragolin, we see a half-length portrait of a child 4-5 years old. The first thing the viewer immediately pays attention to is the boy’s eyes, wide open, looking directly at you, literally looking into the soul. It is difficult to determine their color - either gray or greenish. However, it is not the shade that matters, but their expression. Usually, when the kids cry, they close their eyes. Here, on the contrary, large, like peas, tears roll out from wide-open eyes, looking somewhat sullenly. The kid seems to understand: getting rid of what upset him, offended him, caused pain, there is nothing to wait for. And he cries from hopelessness. More precisely, the sobs themselves have already passed. In the picture we see the end of a mental storm. And, contemplating the unhappy face of the boy, we understand what his emotional experiences were from the beginning.
Further description of the painting
But let's continue. The guy’s face is round, with light eyebrows, puffy cheeks and lips, a cute dimple on the chin. Now it is roaring, swollen, but we understand how pleasant, cute a child is in moments of good mood. Alas, they are quite rare in the baby. And wet grooves on the cheeks, clearly visible drops of tears cause sincere compassion in us, a desire to help, comfort, shelter the poor man from all the storms of life, caress, cheer. And not just him. Empathy for all children awakens this canvas! And Dostoevsky ’s famous phrase comes to mind that the world order that is built on at least one tear of a child is criminal.
General impression
Despite the unfortunate expression on the face, the hero of the picture is very cute. He has thick fluffy blonde hair with a light reddish tint. They say about such people: "The sun kissed them." Baby's hair is confused. Apparently, a long time ago her comb or comb did not touch. Yes, and the good hand of an adult, too. On the child's brownish tones, a sweater, a gray-blue scarf wraps around the neck. The boy is depicted almost to the waist, but, apparently, there are black trousers on him - we can only see the help with light buttons. The child’s face and figure are unevenly lit - the left side is in darkness. In the background is a dark background - as you can see, to give the picture a gloomy, tragic color. There really is something evil and sinister in it.