This short Edgar Allan Poe story demonstrates the sinister side of how beauty can live on through art. An injured traveler takes shelter in an empty mountain chateau. There are paintings on and around the walls of his room. On his pillow is a book describing them. His eyes fall on the portrait of a beautiful woman that seems a little too lifelike. Disturbed, he finds its entry in the book. The woman’s story is one of rare beauty, love, obedience, obsession and death. A possible moral: although art can preserve beauty, artistic obsession can destroy it in the making.
Original Text / PDF / Audio (1,290 words)
Video Version
This 2010 short film adaption directed by Patrick Christl adds a little to the original with the narrator seemingly mourning a lost love of his own. Also, to add dramatic effect, the obsessed artist begins his fateful portrait on the couple’s wedding night, before their marriage has a chance to even be consummated. Watch and enjoy!