The Masterpiece
The room had no view but enough light seeped in for you to marvel at the beauty that reflected back at you. The studio apartment in the middle of nowhere housed a masterpiece that had become an overnight sensation, thanks to the media. The artist was dead and decomposed beyond recognition when the investigators broke into the apartment. The fingerprint on right hand corner of the canvas was the only proof of his existence that remained. The media was having a field day, while the investigators were stumped by the inability to gather any useful information about the deceased. Nobody knew he existed.
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It had taken him a lifetime of hard work and observation. It was a labour of his love. He hardly noticed when day turned into night and back into day when his inspiration kicked him in his gut. Of course, there were revisions and reworking with a new canvas till he got his craft perfected. And yet, it was his best kept secret. A life he had not shared with anyone. Any therapist would diagnose it as lack of self-esteem and blame it on his childhood trauma. He lived a dual life, one where he was a successful doctor, a great husband and father. He never felt the need to share his fears with anyone.
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It was modern art, open to interpretation. Organs like heart, kidney, brain, liver, grew on to form landscapes which changed like the four seasons. Each quadrant evoked a specific emotion in the viewer's mind as if the artist went through a myriad of emotional turmoil while he worked on his masterpiece. The paint was not uniform and gave a certain depth to certain parts of the canvas. The heart would jump out at you on the first glimpse and it would make you recoil in fear for a few seconds and within minutes you would fall in love with the creation. It was hypnotising and enchanting at the same time.
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It took them a week to join the dots. The bank statements from which the rent of the apartment was paid; the missing person report which the family has filed and the fingerprint on the canvas made it an open and shut case. The family decided to part away with the masterpiece by auctioning it; though they happily distributed the hefty sum that they got in return. Things got back to its normal pace and the media moved on to a new scandal. The artist was forgotten and buried in the departmental files but the masterpiece went on to garner a worldwide acclaim.
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