smallhobbit

“That would be hard,” his companion, Amelia Lydgate replied. “The whole of Vienna is buzzing with talk.  It would be impossible to not have heard anything about it.”

“But still, try to empty your mind as much as possible.”

They entered the gallery, and Max steered them round towards the painting.  As Amelia caught sight of it, she stopped short.  “Oh, that’s amazing.”

“What strikes you first?”

“All that gold paint.”

Max sighed.  “I was hoping for something a little deeper.”

“I know,” Amelia replied, “but you have to admit the gold is hard to ignore.”

Max snorted.  “And what else?”

“I’d heard it was pornographic, but really it isn’t.  What it may imply is another matter, but that is the viewer’s interpretation.  I would think asking people what they see in the painting would be a field day for you, all those repressed thoughts coming out into the open.”

“But what about you?  What do you see?”

Amelia thought and then said, “I see love.  And I see a couple oblivious of everything around them, so wrapped up in their golden selves that nothing else matters.  And you, what do you see?”

“I see passion, and a woman for whom the man is everything.”

“Yes,” Amelia said sadly, “it still comes down to the dominance of the man.”