"The 50 Paintings" Project

Painting # 37

"The Crying Boy" by Bruno Amadio

If you travel to the   hill stations in the North of India, especially Mussoorie, Nainital and are walking on the mall road taking in the crisp mountain air.... there is a very good chance  that you may stop outside an Art shop selling paintings - and the reason would generally be the large print of  a cute chubby boy with a tear drop running down his right cheek.

Since my many trips to the beautiful mall road over the last 25 years I  have been looking at this boy with a tear, his sadness always causing a little discomfort in my heart (which lasted only till I made my way to another quaint shop in the hills).

 I was there recently  (excuse no. 1 for not updating my blog last week)  :) and yes it sat there in the same art shop as it had done years ago. When I asked the shop owner about the artist , surely he had no clue about it :)

So it was only this time  that I thought of actually finding out about the artist .

Bruno Amadio was an Italian painter who created a series of "Crying Boy" paintings . He was a trained artist and used to paint in Venice for tourists.

Mass prints of his paintings were created across the world  -  for which no royalty was paid to the artist whatsoever.

The painting prints spread all over with people buying it for the piercing stare of the little boy. 

It was also discovered that many homes / buildings where this painting was housed eventually caught fire . However whenever there was a fire everytime the painting came out unscathed.

So the next time you spot this painting on your adventure in the hills , stop and admire for a moment....

  and then be on your way to the next quaint shop in the mountains . 

P.S.  Hope you had a great Halloween