The Versatile Master Artist

Chapter 91: Chapter 81: The Impressionist Painting Saint and Vulgar Newspapers

No need to exert much effort; Gu Weijing easily found a high-definition electronic version of ”The Dance at the Moulin de la Galette” on the homepage of France’s Leo Art Gallery.

”Pancake Mill Dance” is also known as ”Red Mill Dance.”

The Moulin Rouge is a landmark nightclub in France, where alluring dancers perform the exuberant cancan day and night, filling the entire dance hall with a joyful atmosphere. Many artists enjoy coming here to observe and sketch, and Ray Noa was one of them.

This painting is nearly one and a half meters in both length and width. Although it cannot compare to the grandeur of some old church dome paintings, it is considered a large-scale work in the realm of oil painting.

Gu Weijing opened the high-definition album.

Even though he had seen images of this famous painting countless times before, this time, as this representative work of Impressionism unfolded once again on the computer screen before him, Gu Weijing felt waves of tension rising in his heart.

It was like a diver facing the unknown vastness of the sea.

He took one last deep breath and activated his skill.

This time, what was fragmented in front of Gu Weijing wasn’t the famous painting—

But the entire world.

The world shattered like a mirror in his mind, and what flowed out from behind the shards was nineteenth-century Paris.

The metropolis at dusk, the rotating men and women in the cabaret, the scent of spring wafting in the air, the men’s grand discourses and the girls’ smiles,

Light and darkness, brightness and shadow.

”The so-called Impressionism is nothing more than the pursuit of inner emotions and pure visual enjoyment. We do not depict gods; we merely record sunlight and air. We do not follow rigid doctrines because beauty will endure, and pain will eventually fade away.”

A deep and powerful male voice, speaking in French, recited poetry-like words in Gu Weijing’s ear.

Clang!

In the next instant, it seemed that the Calligraphy and Painting Identification Skill could no longer sustain an entire illusory world, and the mirrored surface rejoined, restoring the world to its normal state.

”You have received an Impressionism limited-time task...”

A notification of a new task sounded in his ear.

But Gu Weijing was too engrossed to pay attention.

A massive wave of mental anguish struck,

Two streams of nosebleed trickled down his face, and his entire being felt like it had been hit by a boxer’s heavy punch, sending him flailing backward.

He fainted.

...

”Miss, I think you might want to take a look at this. A newspaper has reported on your incident.”

Austria,

The butler, with a solemn expression, opened the study door and placed an iPad displaying an electronic publication onto Anna’s desk.

”The Moon?”

Anna glanced at the title and frowned.

The famous sensationalist tabloid ”The Moon”’s Saturday News had actually featured news about Mr. Hibernian’s video on its front page.

While newspapers represent an important right of public opinion supervision, some tabloid reporters are bottomless scavengers.

If you randomly conduct a social survey on the streets of Europe and America, you can find a newspaper that satisfies all of your negative impressions of the news industry.

Sensationalism, vulgarity, melodrama, obnoxiousness, boundlessness...

Then, the Moonlight News would likely occupy the top spot with overwhelming dominance in such an evaluation.

This newspaper giant is notorious for its melodramatic gossip and soft-core content...

And it might not even qualify as ”soft” anymore.

It once spent an entire page comparing the breast shapes of Premier League Rose Kelly Brook and actress Clancy in an incredibly vulgar manner.

[...their rolling waves of breasts are large enough to hold a pint of beer...]

The Moonlight News also has another famous tradition—every issue features a topless girl on its third page.

For a long period, the third-page girls of the British Moonlight News and the cover girls of their American relative, ”playboy,” were regarded as the Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar of the new and old continents, synonymous with vulgar tabloids and titillating pin-up girls.

Despite the newspaper’s notorious reputation, it still has a considerable following.

It was once one of the world’s best-selling newspapers, with a massive social audience making it a target for sycophantic favor from various British political parties.

Its social influence is significant.

To be honest, infamy is still fame. An average B-list Hollywood star would not even get a chance to appear on the Moonlight News’ front page.

For the Moonlight News to launch a front-page expose, it’s either the divorce case of Captain Jack Sparrow Depp or the scandalous rumors of Prince Harry. At the very least, it needs to be a major international star like Neymar’s sex scandal.

By an unexpected twist of fate, there weren’t any significant international news events this week.

Taking advantage of Mr. Hibernian’s fame as the world’s top internet celebrity, Detective Cat inexplicably enjoyed the treatment of a British prince.

Anna had anticipated that this type of lowbrow tabloid, which never had a good impression of the art world, would not provide her with any positive coverage.

However, the newspaper’s title still made her crease her brows.

[”Art Baby’s Fatal Blunder: Has ’Oil Painting’ Already Lost Its Credibility?”]

...For the past century, ”Oil Painting” magazine has been known for offering the most professional art criticism and collection guidance. However, recently, the 22-year-old art critic Miss Anna Ilina made a fatal blunder...

...In the new video shot by the famous internet celebrity and blogger [Mr. Hibernian Channel], she mistakenly evaluated a work worth only ten dollars as a mind-blowing masterpiece.

Ten dollars outperformed a piece worth ten thousand times its value in professional assessment. This inevitably leads us to question whether the so-called art market is nothing more than a complete scam...