Falter

Chapter 36 - love of art

ELIZA

"Darling, can you pass me the brochure please?" Monique, Hunter's Mom, said to me while she's still reading an art brochure. Every painting has its small brochures where you can read where it's from, who painted it, basically it's history. I smiled at her and handed her one from the Picasso painting. It's called the Le Rêve, one of Picasso's famous works. It's a painting of her mistress, Marie Therese Walter. Their relationship has rather a dull ending.

Champagne and wine are waiting around and I grab one. I quietly sip my wine while following Hunter's mom around. She's famous in the art community, she even made a speech before the exhibit began. All I can hear are praises for her with all the people around here.

"I'm getting bored, to be sincerely honest." Evee whispered to me, her gown shining under the light. She chose a simple black silk gown paired with simple black heels, any dress she wore, she looked stunning. I chose a simple navy knee length gown with beads lining the top half.

I smiled back and whispered to her too. "I'm actually enjoying this."

She rolled her eyes and left to freshen up in the bathroom. We've only been here for thirty minutes.

"Eliza..." Monique called to me and my head snapped up. I smiled and walked to her.

"What do you think about this?" she asked, pointing at the big painting of what seems to look like two lovers, like the painting in their living room, but this one looks like they're facing forward still with their veils on.

"Uhm, I think it's really haunting..."

She looked at me, baffled then smiled. "Why do you think so?"

"I feel like they're so close yet so far. That veil over their head, I think it symbolizes the distance, the conflict, maybe pain that keeps getting in between them. I feel like if the veil is removed, they will finally be happy."

She smiled at me, I don't know if she's amused or what but being with Hunter's mother, with a room full of people, is making me anxious.

"You have an eye for art, my dear. Some girls I usually interact with, some girls your age, don't have this depth, this passion I see in you. They would look at art and say "wow, that is beautifully painted" which it usually is. They look at the surface but you, darling, you look close enough, you don't care about the surface, you care about what's deep inside."

I haven't noticed her hand on mine. Thankfully for these heels that I'm almost the same height as her, Monique is sophisticated with the same brown hair Hunter does and seeing her face up close, I can see the resemblance of her and her son.

"I d-don't know I was that transparent..." I stammered while looking down at her hand on mine.

"I guess it's me, I have a keen eye for masterpieces." I looked up and she winked at me.

We walked more, seeing the paintings one by one. Some paintings caught my attention, it's of two angels both with a stick through their heart, trying to pull it out. Monique continued to walk around the gallery and I said I will stay to look at this painting. I grabbed the brochure and read it. It's from a French artist, André, which is simply titled "la douleur exquise" which means "the exquisite pain". I read the history and the artist has been painting since he was five years old and sold a few paintings in the past few years. It's his first time to be featured in a huge exhibit like this.

"André is a very talented young man. He's young but he paints like a pro." Monique is standing beside me, staring at the same painting.

"You've met him?" I asked, still clutching the small paper in my hand.