“A door to mystery opened by a beautiful painting”
Hidden Stories from Famous Paintings, Told by French Licensed Cultural Interpreter Jin Byeong-gwan

What if there was an artist who left a will behind a painting? What if a painting hailed as America's "Mona Lisa" was considered pornographic at the time it was painted? What if there was an artist whose paintings Hitler owned eleven? What if there was a painter who cut off his own head and painted it as a portrait?

There is always a hidden story behind the famous paintings we know well.
A painting that was so well drawn that it brought misfortune, a painting that contained the artist's secret that could not be revealed to anyone, a painting drawn to take revenge on those who mocked and pushed him away...

《The Bizarre Museum》 is a fascinating collection of mysteries within famous paintings, unraveled by Jin Byeong-gwan, a certified French cultural commentator and bestselling author.
By following his intelligent and captivating storytelling through over 100 masterpieces, you will be able to enjoy both the pleasure of appreciating art and gaining general knowledge.

Since the Middle Ages, Europeans have believed that dancing in a cemetery as if possessed could enable them to communicate spiritually with the departed.
During times of epidemics such as the plague, paintings were created of corpses and skeletons rising from graves and dancing with the living.
It reminds us of how close life and death are, how fleeting the glory of this world is, and how we should live.
In this way, the painting depicting the 'dance of death' was an allegory intended to teach a lesson to humanity.

(…) However, unlike his predecessors in the past, the painter did not leave any lessons in his paintings of death.
At the very bottom right of the picture, (…) the signature ‘Felix Nussbaum, April 18, 1944’ is visible.
The date the artist completed the painting and his signature.
Perhaps Nussbaum knew.
That this work would become his will.
---From “The Last Testament Left in Painting: Felix Nussbaum, The Triumph of Death”

The woman in the painting is kneeling and bowing her head, carrying a flower basket on her back that appears larger than her body.
But as if it were difficult for her to lift the heavy basket alone, a man whose hands, feet, and part of his head are visible from behind the basket is helping her.
The woman will soon go out into the street to sell flowers, carrying a heavy basket.
When you first encounter the painting, your eyes are drawn to the gorgeous and beautiful colors and you end up staring at it for a long time, but when you discover the woman carrying the basket, you become more aware of the weight of her life than the beauty of the flowers.

Diego Rivera's "The Flower Seller" is an ironic work that is both beautiful and difficult, and the life of the painter Rivera was like that too.
---「A Hard Life That Can't Be Hiding Even with Flowers: Diego Rivera, from "The Flower Seller"」

Before the advancement of medicine, death was a common occurrence.
Because death was a natural thing, it was natural to sing about and draw death.
But we no longer talk about death in our daily lives.
Although we may feel sad about the deaths of others, we treat it as if it has nothing to do with us.
But Böcklin's paintings constantly ask us whether death is not far away, when it will come to us, and how we will face that moment.
---「Everyone leaves for the island of death: Arnold Böcklin, from “Death and Self-Portrait Playing the Violin”

The revolutionary, who could not put down his work even when he went into the bathtub to overcome the severe itching, and the heroic figure holding a pen and paper even at the moment of death, did not express a skin disease.
The bottom of the bathtub sheet shows traces of a lint-free cloth, subtly showing Mara's cleanliness.
The tombstone-like wooden table is inscribed with “To Marat, David, l'AN DEUX, 1793,” and the handle of the sword used to kill Marat (although it was actually black) is painted white to maximize the hero’s blood.

David actually visited Mara's home the day before she was murdered and met her.
That's why I knew how he usually worked, and I knew how he faced death after he was murdered.
But that fact didn't matter.
Marat in the painting had to remain as Jesus Christ, martyred for the revolution.

---From "The World's Most Political Painting: Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat"