Read Carefully

Since the first time that Juan saw the paintings of Velázquez and El Greco, when he was 7, he had wanted to be a painter. Unfortunately, he could neither draw nor paint, and in his art classes, he painted worse than anyone. However, his love for painting never diminished, and he studied the career of art historian in college

Upon graduating, he started working in El Prado where he spent years becoming familiar with all the paintings, restoring the museum’s new acquisitions, and planning the halls for expositions. He would also accompany and care for the paintings loaned to other museums as if they were his own children. (Because of his work, he never married, and it was natural for him to consider them his own.)

He would travel to other parts of the world: New York, London, Paris, and always learned more about his art because of the Spanish paintings that were in each city. He also loved other schools of art and would always see the expositions in Madrid. Once, an Egyptian exposition arrived that excited him so much, that he went every day to learn more about the age of the Pharaohs.

One day, when he was leaving the museum, he saw an Egyptian-looking man selling trinkets. Juan had seen him every day, but something, that day, caught his attention. He stopped in front of the stand and saw a sign saying:

 Be all you want to be. Achieve your most desired dreams.

Upon asking him, the vendor told him he was selling powders taken from the pyramids that would give the buyer the power to achieve his dreams. He told Juan that he would only have to follow the directions carefully to become the new Juan. Juan, who still desired to be a famous painter, bought them and, after buying the canvas, brushes and paint, headed home.

Upon arriving, he opened the box and took out the instructions. He read them, prepared the powder as instructed, took it, and began to paint an 18th century style still life.

What a shock he had! After the first tentative brushstroke, the rest followed with confidence until finishing an authentic 18th century painting. He stepped back from the painting to view it in more detail. Yes, he had painted a still life in the style of Velázquez. Better yet, it was a Velázquez.

The following day, all he could think about was his discovery. He wanted to tell someone all about it, but decided to wait until he painted like that again. Finally, he arrived home. He ran to the coffee table where he left the powder and prepared some more. After drinking the potion, he took off his jacket and began to paint.

This time he thought about Murillo and, after a few hours, he finished a “Murillo”. Upon finishing it, he felt a bit dizzy, but he sat down, opened up a bottle of wine, and began to celebrate. After five minutes, however, he called his best friends, José and Felipe, to invite them to celebrate with him. They arrived, looked at the paintings open-mouthed, and began congratulating him with slaps on the back.

His days continued in the same way. He would go to work, return home, where he would prepare his powder, and would start painting. When he finished, he would call his friends, and all would celebrate until early morning. He would tell them that he felt weak, but they would say it was due to the work.

One evening, while drinking his wine, he decided to paint “Los Borrachos” of Velázquez. The next day everyone saw that he had painted his own face in the painting. He denied having painted it, but no one believed him. When he completed the painting, he realized that the fantastic powder was starting to run out and, because of that, when he saw the painting ruined by his face, he got angry. He had wasted some of the fantastic powder and doubted the possibility of buying more.

During this time, he started selling his paintings, saying that they were new discoveries of the “masters”. With the money he earned selling the paintings, he quit his job and opened his own gallery. He had parties every night, and there were always lots of people and refreshments. It seemed to José and Felipe that he was trying to regain all the years lost due to his studies and work in the Prado.

One night, during one of his parties, he decided to paint The Garden of Earthly Delights” of El Bosco. He knew he could sell it for a good price as a second version of the Master, and since the party was still going strong, he felt inspired. As it is a large, complicated painting, he prepared a double portion of the powder. He took it and started to paint.

He finished the central part and was painting the left panel when he felt dizzy. He sat down and after a few minutes, began again. To help himself, he took another dose of the powder. He finished the first panel, and had finished more than half of the upper part of the second panel when he felt dizzier than the last time.

He sat down and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the box of powder. In order to pass the time away while recovering his strength, he decided to read the box again. He read the instructions as always and, for the first time, noticed something else-a warning from the company that was selling the powder.

We suggest that customers follow the instructions carefully because, when we discovered the powder, we also discovered this warning:

Whoever takes this powder as indicated will be blessed with what he wants. However, if more is taken than the one dose a day when desired, or if the powder is taken more than 25 times, the powder will overcome the person, who will become weaker and weaker, and who will be changed into an object of what he wanted to be.

We don’t believe this warning, but we feel the need to give the customer all possible information.

Juan tried to call his friends, but was too weak. He grabbed a brush, underlined the warning, he weakly wrote the word HELL and drew and arrow. They he fainted.

An hour later, Felipe entered the study looking for Juan. He didn’t find him, but he did see the painting. He looked at it for a few seconds, and was leaving when he saw the box on the table with the arrow pointing to the painting. He read the underlined instructions and saw the word HELL He approached the right panel and was carefully studying it when Juan woke up.

Juan looked around. “What a party” he thought. “I hear much shouting and see some naked bodies. This certainly is a good party. When I finish this canvas I will have to join them. But, what do I smell? It’s not perfume, something rotten, burned. It smells like sulfur-let me see!”

He couldn’t move. It felt as if a large weight was pressing on his head. He looked up. “What is that, a table?” he thought. Then he looked ahead and saw Felipe, who was finishing looking at the painting. Suddenly, something caught Felipe’s attention. Once again he looked at the painting carefully and thought he had seen an eye blink. Then he saw it. Under the table, in the central part of the canvas, he saw the face of his friend, whose eyes were blinking at him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: to fully understand this story, please search for The Garden of Earthly Delights by H. Bosch and look at the right hand panel. There, you will see the table with the head under it!