The Trip To The Museum, parts 1426 - 1429

1426. From the Egyptian collection she went to a big room which had an exhibit of local artists held every year at the same time in the summer. Years later she would submit pieces to this exhibit every year.  Almost all of the pictures in this room were watercolors done of landscapes and flowers. Most had an unfinished look about them, and were framed in gold frames with various color mats. None of these pictures had prizes or ribbons.

 1427. Agnes was especially interested in the prize-winning paintings, but she was mystified as to why the pictures with prizes were singled out. First prize went to a gigantic painting almost six feet square; it was painted entirely light gray with very thick paint. She looked at the first prize painting for a while and was able to discover that down in the left hand corner there were some bumps in the paint, as if breadcrumbs had been painted over. 

1428. Although it won first prize, it did not have any frame and the edges were splotched. Next Agnes went through the entire room again and looked at the titles and prices of all the pictures. All of the watercolors in the gold frames had prices like two hundred dollars, or four hundred dollars, but the big gray first prize picture cost ten thousand dollars, and had won a five thousand dollar prize.

 1429. As she stood there looking at the price of the gray painting two older women came up and looked at the same painting, one said to the other. "This painting was submitted to the show last year and the year before and was rejected both times. This is his third attempt to get into this show, and now it has won the first prize."