The Speaking Portrait.

There are two people who can admire, understand and appreciate a work of art. First, it’s creator the person who infused life into that work of art. Second, an admirer who gave it the right appreciation it ought to get. Both are equally in awe of the painting but the way they look at it is very very different…rather poles apart.

The creator: He puts all his effort to realize a dream that he has, to create his masterpiece. The art is appreciated, as the creator wants and expects it to. The creator visits the art gallery, inconspicuous to all visitors, for him it is the praise that his painting gets, more important to him than he being praised for the same. The painting feels, likes his presence, the painting always waits for its creator, it wants that no one other than the creator to take her home. The creator too wants the same. Though he is the creator of the masterpiece, yet he has to make efforts for the painting which he does.

The admirer: He knows exactly what the creator wanted to create, the admiration the painting deserves. He stands by the painting for hours mesmerized by it, for days, weeks and longer and could do so till eternity. He knows that he can take care of the painting, but he also realizes that there could be people who can take care of her better. He simply thinks that some day things will be just perfect for him to try and ask the painting to come home with him. He has apprehensions, which he wants the painting to decide for itself, which is the better of all options. The painting likes being admired by his admirer, when the creator is not there it is the admirer she wants to have around, the painting is also fearful if the creator is unable to make it she expects the admirer to standby as an alternative, he unknowingly and knowingly does, because that is what the painting expects from him.

The creator and the admirer do not feel each others presence, they both only have one thing in mind that the painting makes it to the place where she ought to be. The creator has the consent of the painting the admirer is just given an expectation. The creator is the priority the admirer is secondary. The creator and admirer both are very different, the creator is far better than the admirer. Their efforts for the painting are different, the admirer is silent unless expected to speak.

In a situation when the painting has to choose between the creator and the admirer, she chooses the creator. She does the right thing, but painting gives no reason as to why, probably she does not find the admirer worthy or she does not feel the necessity to explain it to the admirer. The painting does not say a word. It is this ability of the portrait to speak that makes it a special creation of that creator, the one that the admirer loves, and also the one which she looses in this tussle.