The Painted Dress

The Painted Dress

Steve was sitting at the dining room table wondering whether to tip out the contents of the box in front of him. He hadn’t attempted a jigsaw in what, nearly sixty years. He had opened the door this morning to be presented with a brown paper package which, although not tied up with string on this occasion, was nevertheless one of his favourite things during these rather dull times. The calendar on the kitchen wall which Steve could see through the open door in front of him, depicts a host of daffodils under a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The legend beneath says “March 2021”. Steve had torn off the last sheet, a snowy picture of bare branched trees, just a couple of days ago.

When Steve had carefully removed the brown paper and folded it for future reuse, he’d found a box with a picture of Gustav Klimt’s The Virgin on the lid. Inside were a thousand small pieces of cardboard. He and his wife, Paula, were bored of endless games of Scrabble and gin rummy so he’d ordered this jigsaw as a new challenge for them. He’d chosen the thousand-piece option as it seemed better value for money but now it was piled up in front of him it looked extremely daunting. Would the finished puzzle even fit on the dining room table? And where would they eat whilst it was under construction? He turned the box over with the lid still on and checked the dimensions. It would fit at one end of the table and there would still be room for the two of them to sit and eat at the other end. There was no chance of having any dinner guests in the next few weeks anyway, more’s the pity. Taking time to cook gourmet meals, choosing the right wines, laying out the best china and dressing for the occasion was a favourite way to spend a Saturday evening. Taking a deep breath Steve decided to go for the tipping out method and flipped the box over. A small mound of colourful cardboard pieces sat in the centre of the table. Steve propped the box lid up to be able to see the picture.

An hour later Paula got home with their dog Pippin. “Hello,” she called from the door and Pippin ran in to say hello too. Walking into the kitchen with a bag of shopping Paula popped her head around the door.

“It’s arrived then.”

“Yes, came while you were out.”

“I thought you might have got lunch ready.”

“Oh well, I just thought I’d have a look at this first.” Steve looked up from the table at the clock on the mantlepiece. “I had no idea that was the time! I thought I’d just spend half an hour trying to sort out the edge pieces.”

“Right, well, I’m hungry after our walk.”

After clearing away the lunch things, Steve went back to the puzzle. By dinner time he had managed a short strip of edging but was beginning to realise how out of practice he was with these things. As they ate their pasta with the delicious tomato sauce Paula had spent most of the afternoon preparing, they looked at the picture on the box lid. The spread-eagled woman in the colourful dress at the centre of the painting dominated. In fact, the shape of the puzzle meant that some of the other women were missing. Paula found the complete picture on her phone to show to Steve. As she was searching for artworks she came across last year’s lockdown trend – recreating famous works of art with household objects.

“Of course!” Steve exclaimed. “Jerry can do that! She can be the Virgin.”

 “Hardly a virgin.” Paula remarked drily.

“She’s got that long blue dress, we can paint on the pattern. Do we have the gold pen left over from Christmas?”

Steve spent most of the evening in the shed going through old pots of paint to see what would be usable. He then made a list of the colours he would need to buy and looked at the DIY shop website to check their stock and opening times.

By the end of the following day the dress was ready. Some sheets and scarves were laid out on the floor to represent the background and the other figures. Paula had spent the afternoon making flowers from tissue paper which she carefully placed around the sheet figures. Jerry stepped into the newly painted dress, her face pale with foundation and lips a bright red.

“Lie down carefully,” fussed Paula, “So the flowers don’t get blown around.”

Slowly Jerry placed herself in the space between the sheet figures and the paper flowers. She positioned her arms above head just as in Klimt’s painting. Paula adjusted the dress so that the painted pattern was shown in all its glory. She already had the stepladder out and positioned herself atop it to take the photo looking down on Jerry.

Later on, Steve posted to the WhatsApp family chat group: “Jerry making the most of lockdown” with pictures of both Klimt’s original and Paula’s photo of Jerry.