The Painter Who Burned Colors

A 17th-century painter, Augustin Verre, was known for colors no one could recreate. He claimed his reds came from “life itself.” After his death, restorers found traces of bone and blood in his paints.

But his final work, The Mourning Sun, is what terrified them most. The figures in the painting age. Every decade, their faces grow more defined, more decayed. Art historians believe Augustin didn’t just paint them — he trapped them.

Now the painting is sealed in a museum vault. But guards say some nights, the varnish glows faintly red, and the figures blink.