A spooky art happening... In Cleveland?

How could we possibly go through Halloween and the spooky season without a nod to a few specters? And as an art blog, it would be unfair not to make those spooks also talented artists or their subjects.

So get your spook on in the last place you'd probably think of. Cleveland. Cleveland has great food, the beloved Browns are on the upswing, and Cleveland of course, rocks with the Rock and Roll Hall of fame. And should you get ill, the Cleveland Clinic is one of the best in the world to cure what ails you. But when setting up a cultural cruise of the unexplained, you probably don't think of including a scary and surreal stop at the Cleveland Art Museum. But the Cleveland Art Museum has embraced its transparent side, as shown in the tales below. So here is your boo from me to you this Halloween.

First unexplained visitor, is the ghost of Claude Monet. In 2015 curators were preparing to open the exhibit Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. When one curator looked up they saw a transparent but formed figure watching the work unfold below. If you look carefully behind the woman standing you will see the Monet actual photo, which you can then compare to the figure circled on the balcony above. During the exhibition, which is now closed, other staff and visitors repeatedly reported seeing the same figure, always in or by the exhibit. There are no reports that Monet remained at the museum once the exhibit closed, or reports of the figure appearing at other institutions when the works were shown. Which is very different from our next artwork and artist....

While getting a haunted hello from Monet may not be possible in 2021, there is another French artists subject at the Cleveland Museum of Art who just might share a ghostly "bon jour" when you visit his corner, in the French and German collection 216B.

This is Portrait of Jean-Gabriel du Theil at the signing of the Treaty of Vienna by the French artist Jacques Andre Joseph Aved (1702-1766). While this painting has traveled a great deal in its life, there is no concrete evidence that either Aved or du Theil ever traveled to the United States . They definitely did not visit Cleveland which was founded in 1796 after both of their deaths.

These facts make the story of the "Grey Man" that haunts the gallery when the portrait is on display more unusual. There are other paintings of du Theil and other paintings done by Aved, but none have had the paranormal activity that this one has. Here's the story:

The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired this oil painting in 1953 from a New York dealer, in 1964 it was formally brought into the collection. It has hung in the same corner of the French and German collection gallery whenever it has actively been on display. Whenever it is on display, reports of a ghostly "grey man" standing around the painting start to surface. Along with the specter, the gallery experiences electrical issues which only occur when the oil painting is on display. There are no such occurrences when other works are hung in the corner. Why du Theil has decided to live his afterlife in this painting in Cleveland is unclear, but he is currently on display so if you have a chance to stop by Cleveland in your travels, do stop by and say hello, you might get a ghostly reply back.

If you enjoy the oil painting of du Theil, like portrait works do come onto the market. Of course none come with a guarantee of a resident time traveler.

Happy boo day 2021!

Bridgett, Mike, Clifford and the Contre Le Mur team