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Art certainly influences us. Usually, it causes a surge of thoughts and emotions running through our brains, bringing us to tears or laughter. But according to some people, there is the artwork that can cause some genuinely undesirable effects. For instance, the cursed image named Crying Boy by Bruno Amadio is believed to be responsible for several house fires.

With so many urban tales and real horror stories out there about haunted houses, dolls, and other cursed items, the ones about famous paintings are particularly terrifying. It's hard to say if it's because some paintings are just so heinous that they just make people miserable, or there's a vicious spirit that haunts them.

Scroll below to see the famous art known to be cursed. We are positive it's safe to look at these online, but make sure not to hang them in your house. Just in case.

#1

The Anguished Man. Unknown

The Anguished Man. Unknown

Perhaps one of the most haunted paintings in the world, The Anguished Man has accumulated many scary stories. No one knows who exactly painted the piece, but it's known that the artist mixed his blood into the paint and soon after the painting was finished, committed suicide. The current owner of the painting, Sean Robinson, said that he inherited it from his grandmother, who believed it to be cursed. When the man hung up the piece in his bedroom, the family started hearing whispering and crying at night, as well as seeing a shadowy figure.

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Missy Finley
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why in God's name would anyone hang this terrifying thing in their bedroom?

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#2

Untitled Painting. Zdzisław Beksiński

Untitled Painting. Zdzisław Beksiński

Zdzisław Beksiński's nightmarishly unique art seem like scenes from hell themselves, but it's the legends surrounding them that makes people think the pieces are cursed. The Polish painter did not title any of his paintings and reportedly burned a selection of them in his backyard without showing anyone. Beksiński's life was shrouded in tragedy too as his wife died in 1998 and his son committed suicide a year later. Six years later the artist was found murdered in his apartment. There are people who believe that anyone who looks at the paintings for a longer time will soon die.

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#3

The Rain Woman. Svetlana Telets

The Rain Woman. Svetlana Telets

The painter, Svetlana Telets, revealed that she finished the picture in just about 5 hours, all the while feeling like hand was guided by someone else. Everyone who owned the painting reportedly would return it, complaining of insomnia, feelings of sadness and being watched.

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#4

Man Proposes, God Disposes. Edwin Henry Landseer

Man Proposes, God Disposes. Edwin Henry Landseer

The painting itself depicts a gruesome scene; an imagined ending to the Sir John Franklin's expedition in 1845 that disappeared without a trace. However, that isn't the only mystery related to this piece of art. The picture is housed at Royal Holloway, University of London, where it is covered with a Union flag every exam season. The reason behind it? Rumors say that in 1970s one student committed suicide after staring at the painting. He allegedly left a note behind saying "the polar bears made me do it". Other students reported feeling uneasy and upset while sitting next to it.

Edwin Henry Landseer Report

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stellermatt
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

some people might comment a joke on the subject of bi-polar, but not me. nope.

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#5

The Hands Resist Him. Bill Stoneham

The Hands Resist Him. Bill Stoneham

Bill Stoneham painted "The Hands Resist Him" in 1972, but in February 2000 it became known as "eBay Haunted Painting". The painting was described as haunted because previous owners reported that characters in the picture would move at night, to the point of completely leaving the frame. The painter of the piece also claims that both, the owner of the gallery in which the painting was first displayed , and the art critic who reviewed the painting, died within a year after looking at the picture.

Bill Stoneham Report

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Sabrina Huber
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dammit... a year after looking at the picture... that I just looked at... Couldn't you give us these details BEFORE we view the damn picture?!

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#6

Replica Of "Love Letters". Richard King

Replica Of "Love Letters". Richard King

The painting is displayed at Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, a site where US senator' 4-year-old daughter, Samantha Houston, fell down a flight of stairs to her death in 1887. Although the painting doesn't depict Samantha, many believe that her spirit haunts the picture and some even say that both girls looked alike. People who stay at the hotel report that the painting's expressions change, people feel uneasy and even sick after looking at it for too long. Some even reported seeing a phantom of a little girl playing with a ball.

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Kizzy Kizzy
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

JESUS!! Two things one, One if you turn it it is still staring at you! Two it's expression changed after I read the description!!

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#7

The Crying Boy. Giovanni Bragolin

The Crying Boy. Giovanni Bragolin

The Crying Boy is a painting by Italian artist Giovanni Bragolin, a man behind a group of paintings known as Crying Boys. Prints of The Crying Boy were mass-produced in 1950s and strange reports surrounding the pictures soon followed. British newspaper The Sun reported that firefighters wound often find this picture in the ruins of the burned house, the prints being completely unscathed. Many believe that the image attracts fire and misery as the boys in the picture were unhappy.

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Daria Zotova
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard that the artist added tears AFTER painting a child, so technically the children were only crying in the artist's mind. Ah, and he painted crying girls too. No idea why he liked it.

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#8

Bernardo De Galvez Painting. Unknown

Bernardo De Galvez Painting. Unknown

The painting is placed at Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas and many guests have reported strange occurrences around the picture. Some say that when walking past the painting the eyes would follow them or that standing next to it would make them feel very cold and uneasy. But perhaps the weirdest fact about this painting is that whenever people would take photos of it, the photograph would turn out to be blurred. However, people who managed to get a clear imagine of it said that all it took for them to accomplish such a feat, was to ask the portrait for permission to take a picture.

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#9

The Dead Mother. Edvard Munch

The Dead Mother. Edvard Munch

The painter behind this piece, Edvard Munch, is also the author of the famous 'The Scream' piece. The subjects in the painting, a dead mother, and her child possibly represent the devastating consequences of tuberculosis, a disease that devastated Scandinavia. Many report that the eyes of the child seem to follow them and some say that at times you can hear the sheets on the bed rustle.

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Sara Otterstätter
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The impression that the eyes of a person in a painting are following you, is a common optical illusion, due to the two dimensional nature of the artwork. You can see the illusion in every portrait where the subject looks at the viewer. That's why everytime I see the claim: "Oooooh, that portrait is spooky, haunted, cursed because the eyes follow the viewer" I nod and think: Yeah, the magic of perspective and optical illusions.

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#10

Untitled. Laura P.

Untitled. Laura P.

Laura P. painted this piece while referencing James Kidd's photograph that he took in 1994. The original image contained a wagon and a headless figure, whom some believed was a ghost. The painter, as if possessed by some power, recreated the painting without thinking why she was doing it. After the piece was finished, the artist reported many unfortunate events happening around the painting. Papers going missing, mysterious leaks, objects falling and breaking were just some of the incidents happening to the artist. Some people believe that the spirit captured in the original photograph is haunting the painting.

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