Artist
This whole experience started with Emma sending me a Buzzfeed listicle. Or, trying to. I’ll just transcribe the chat on messenger here:
Emma: This is so weird look at number 4
17 Artists that Died Way too Young — Buzzfeed
Have you ever seen that before?
I’ve never heard of her that painting is so cool
Me: I think something’s wrong with my connection nothing’s loading
Emma: Omg it’s so coool. I’ll copy and paste
Sophie Legrand
Known widely for her creepy hyperrealistic paintings that play with perspective, Sophie Legrand was reclusive and seems to have only ever done one appearance and interview. She was known for being eccentric, and always appeared with a curly black beard that matched her long curly black hair, though whether it was a fake beard worn as performative art or not has been up for debate.
Two weeks after her single appearance and interview at the unveiling of her 20 foot high painting, “Les Femmes Qui Regardent,” (pictured above) a very dark video was posted on her twitter account (which had only ever shared news links about her works, never personal observations.) She appeared to be on a hotel balcony in the middle of the night, and the phone was held very shakily. She whispers “Regardez-moi,” (French for “Look at me,” or “watch me”) and then appears to jump off the balcony. It’s hard to tell because the phone is aimed in close-up on her face, and even though the wind noise and sound when she presumably hit the pavement are very apparent her face never changes, just staring straight ahead with a completely blank face.
Many people believe the entire persona of Sophie Legrand was fake, especially with such a dramatic and creepy exit from the art world. Even though her paintings are well known there’s very little information about her to go around. Some art critics have theorized that the bearded woman that was interviewed was actually an actor hired by the real artist, and her interview, paintings, and apparent suicide were all elaborate performance art.
Me: Sounds like dumb creepypasta. Is there even a picture of her?
Emma: No! I’m so mad, you can’t just say she had a beard and NOT post a picture, right? But the important thing is this painting. How have I never heard of her?
Me: Sorry, this connection must be really bad, I’m not getting anything to load.
Emma: It’s so cool!
Okay, lemme see if i can describe it for you
Me: lol you must really like this painting.
You could just wait until I have better signal
Emma: So it reminds me of a Manet painting, if Manet painted horror.
Shut up you have to know!
There’s a trio of super realistic women staring at you. They all have black hair and pale skin, and the woman in center is closer to you than the other two. They’re in a room that looks, like, stretched. Like as tall as an elevator shaft, but a really fancy ballroom. The thing is, they’re the same size as the room. They look like normal sized women until you look at the background, and then you sorta feel sick because the background means they must be like 40 feet tall.
Me: the painting makes you feel sick?
Emma: Yes! I can’t stare at it too long because it creeps me out, but I also can’t look away, you know?
Me: I think so, lol
Emma: So, yeah, these giant women, there are people below them, staring up at them. Since the perspective is stretched and bent when you look down at the bottom it’s like you’re looking down on their heads, like you’re a giant too. But when you look at the women you just know you’re not as powerful as them. The painting makes you big, but -they’re bigger.
Me: So that doesn’t sound like Manet at all.
Emma: But it is! Like, you know that painting in a bar? In front of a mirror? The woman at the bar is staring at you like these women stare. And perspective is weird in that painting, too.
Me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bar_at_the_Folies-Bergère
This one? Perspective just looks weird in that painting, it’s actually a normal perspective. Somebody proved it
Emma: But it looks like that style. Like a blending of Impressionism and Realism. And I bet if there were women this big, and you could be this big, you could prove the perspective is normal, too.
Me:If you’re a giant woman.
Emma: Lol yeah
_
That was yesterday evening. Perfectly normal chat for Emma, she was an art major in college and we took some art history classes together. Well, today I saw a post on her facebook from her mom, saying that Emma’s been missing and no one has heard from her since noon yesterday, and to please call the police with information about her whereabouts. Obviously, that’s not true, since Emma sent me all this stuff gushing about Sophie Legrand and her creepy painting/suicide that evening around 7pm.
It gets weirder, though. I tried searching for Sophie Legrand and I’ve come up entirely empty-handed. There’s not even a buzzfeed listicle with the title Emma tried to send me.
Oh, and there’s one more thing. After her mom posted the plea for information, I went back to the chat. There weren’t any new notifications, but there was something new there.
Around midnight last night, I got a video in messenger from Emma. She’s staring at the screen in the dark, I think it’s her bedroom but it’s hard to tell because the only light seems like it’s from the phone itself, and she has it held really close to her face. After few long, creepy seconds of silence, she whispers, “Watch me.” The camera cuts away from her face, everything blurring for a few moments as she opens what I assume is her third story window.
I paused the video at that, I can’t bear to watch anymore, even if this is an elaborate art prank she’s playing on me.
What should I do? Did my friend commit suicide last night because of a buzzfeed article? Should I tell her mom what she sent me? Go to the police? I don’t want to get her in any trouble if this is just an art stunt, but I’m really worried about her.
