Shadow Curios

The stories behind the paintings

Legends

Curses, hauntings, dreams and madness. Every painting in Shadow Curios has a story, and some of them are hard to forget.

Curses & Madness

Coming soonThe Cursed & Tragic collection. Goya’s Saturn is playable now.

Ivan the Terrible and His Son Cursed & Tragic Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ilya Repin · 1883–85 The man who posed as the dying son was dead within five years. Portrait of Maria Lopukhina Cursed & Tragic Portrait of Maria Lopukhina Vladimir Borovikovsky · 1797 Moscow believed this portrait killed the young women who looked at it. Hatred and Madness Cursed & Tragic Hatred and Madness Paško Vučetić & Viktor Kovačić · c. 1898 A man screams over a skull, inside a frame carved like her grave. Man Proposes, God Disposes Cursed & Tragic Man Proposes, God Disposes Edwin Landseer · 1864 The painting students cover with a flag every exam season. Saturn Devouring His Son The Mad & the Damned Saturn Devouring His Son Francisco de Goya · 1819–23 Goya painted it on his dining-room wall. No one was meant to see it.

Ghosts & Hauntings

Coming soonA new collection of apparitions, séances and restless dead.

The Ghost of Oyuki Ghosts & Hauntings The Ghost of Oyuki Maruyama Ōkyo · late 18th century The painting that taught Japan what a ghost looks like. The Ghost of a Flea Ghosts & Hauntings The Ghost of a Flea William Blake · c. 1819–20 A ghost sat for William Blake, and told him what fleas really are. Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband’s Ghost Ghosts & Hauntings Mary Todd Lincoln and Her Husband’s Ghost William H. Mumler · c. 1872 The president’s widow sat for a ghost photographer. Death and the Woodcutter Ghosts & Hauntings Death and the Woodcutter Alphonse Legros · 1870s He called on Death to end his labors. Death came. Grief Darkness & Evil Grief Oskar Zwintscher · 1898 Death does not take him. Death leans on him.

Dreams & Nightmares

Coming soonIncubi, fairies and the sleeping mind.

The Nightmare Dreams & Nightmares The Nightmare Henry Fuseli · 1781 The painting that gave the nightmare its face. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke Dreams & Nightmares The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke Richard Dadd · 1855–64 Nine years on one small canvas, painted inside Bedlam. The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of Dreams & Nightmares The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of John Anster Fitzgerald · c. 1858 She sleeps. The things around her bed do not. Vasilisa the Beautiful Death & the Devil Vasilisa the Beautiful Ivan Bilibin · 1899 She went to the witch for fire. She came home with a skull.

Assemble them piece by piece

Nearly every legend here is, or soon will be, a puzzle in Shadow Curios. Our first collection is free, so you can start assembling masterpieces tonight.

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