Edgar Allan Poe and a bratty parrot.

Well, many years ago, I worked in interior decoration and was doing a trompe l'oeil on the wall of a dining room in a private house. The scene portrayed a large desert landscape, with dunes and camels, in which, at close range, a fabric tent could be seen, with the entrance slightly opened. On the sand, in front of the entrance, I had to feature the homeowner's beloved parrot, a wonderful but spoiled dude, who was used to live free, highly intelligent and vengeful. No matter how much I tried to paint the parrot in a neutral attitude, I couldn’t avoid to portray him with a threatening gaze. At the time, I thought it was a lack of my painting technique. Lately I came across a statement by Edgar Allan Poe, from "the Veil of the soul". Quote: "Were I called on to define, very briefly, the term 'Art', I should call it 'the reproduction of what the Senses percieve in Nature through the veil of soul'. The mere imitation, however accurate, of what is in Nature, entitles no man to the sacred name of 'Artist'.(...).

Frieda Kahlo, "Me and my parrots"

1941