Emerging from a painting

I do not invest in unwanted drivel: Daily Prompt: Living Art

 One day, your favorite piece of art — a famous painting or sculpture, the graffiti next door — comes to life. What happens next?

The painting I have in mind would be The Reading, by Renoir:

Photo credits: Quality Arts and Signs, http://www.qualityartandsigns.com/Format%20for%20catalog%20B.htm

If I find those two sisters wandering around, first of all, I don’t think I will recognize them… I mean, what are the chances that they will stand out from the crowd? Okay, maybe if they retain their dressing, and combined with their alabaster skin and blushing cheeks, I might recognize them, and do a double- take.

I’ll hide behind a pillar and observe them discreetly. They will be bumbling about in the 21st century, confused by the noise and weird ‘magic’ around them, which we call ‘technology’.

Gathering my courage, I would approach and talk to them, to find out more about their world, the time period in which they come from. Perhaps, I might make a shocking discovery that their painting is actually a portal from their world to ours! Now, that will be interesting, won’t it?

I will usher them back in, and if I’m feeling rather adventurous and reckless that day, I will crawl in after them, through the painting, and into their world. That would be real amazing.

Since I wouldn’t want to be stuck in their era for the rest of my life, I will wedge something into the portal, as one would wedge a piece of wood between the door and its frame to keep it from closing. When I’m pretty much done with exploring their world, I would just nip back quietly to my own world.

This daily prompt actually reminds me of the book I have read before in my childhood—The Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo.

The following may contain spoilers, if you have not read the first book in the series, Midnight for Charlie Bone.

This series is about a group of children who are the endowed (like, you know, gifted) and the main character, Charlie, finds out he is a picture traveller, which is something like travelling through pictures/ paintings and interacting with the occupants in the picture.

There was this once where he entered the painting of a sorcerer, called Skarpo (Ah, I remember the name!) and Skarpo escaped from his painting! The subsequent chapters elaborated on the disaster that ensued from that incident…

I’m not saying that occupants of a painting should stay where they are—that is, in their painting—because, where will the fun be, eh? 🙂 But I think the consequences, especially if the occupant has malevolent intent, will be quite nerve wrecking.

Can you think of someone evil whom you don’t wish would emerge from a painting?