A Day at the Museum. (No mini cowboy Owen Wilson though :-/)

You promised Vanessa a few days ago that you would take her and Olivia to the Art Museum that has the same name as them. You got through a ton of work last Monday and Tuesday, so you might as well do it today.
Thinking about it, Vanessa is a bit of a curious sort. She is really into keeping fit and you are pretty sure she could kick both your and Ollie's ass in a 2v1 fight. Yet, she is super sensitive and into a lot of artistic things: paintings, art films, architecture. However, she doesn't seem to delve into the creative herself. You wonder if there is a reason.

You tell the sisters your plan for today. Vee jumps for joy, hugging you, thanking you for keeping your promise. Ollie groans and rolls her eyes. She is not happy that Vanessa is practically forcing her to come along. You are pretty sure she was hoping for some private time with the lingerie drawer. You shoot her an apologetic look, and she warms up a bit.

"So, Chazen Art Museum, huh?" Olivia says as she looks at the building.
"Are you sure you have no relation?" you ask.
"I'm sure, it's just a coincidence." Vanessa replies.

You go inside, and pay the entrance fee. Olivia is not super interested in art, so she just speeds through a lot of it. Sometimes she sees something that captures her attention. She keeps returning to you and Vanessa who are walking at a much slower pace. In the end you tell her to just go through it at her own pace, and when she has seen all she could be interested in, she could go home for some "relaxing alone time". You do encourage her to check out the Renaissance exhibitions, seeing as those probably have the most naked people. She takes off.

You enjoy your casual stroll with Vanessa. You don't know a whole lot about art, but you do find a lot of it interesting. Vanessa seems to know quite a bit, and act as a pretty decent tour guide. She doesn't know everything, like Olivia sometimes seems to do, but she has a fairly impressive overview of different eras, and can instantly figure which century most of the paintings were painted. You spend a couple of hours.
"This place is pretty big." Vanessa sighs almost as she has gone to heaven: "I'm not sure we would be able to see everything in this pace."
"Take your time." you reassure her: "We can always come back another day."
She gently grabs your and looks at you adoringly.
"There is one collection I would like to see." she says softly.
"Lead the way." you respond.

"SALVADOR DALI" the sign says.
"That's the melting clock guy, right?" you ask.
"Yup." she answers: ""The Persistence of Memory" as it's called."
"Is it here?"
"No, it's in New York."
Damn Yankees, always hogging the best shit.

It's a decently sized collection. You and Vanessa sit down on a bench towards the middle of the collection. You sit and stare at picture displayed pretty prominently in a middle section. Most of the paintings in the collection are watercolour pictures, but not this one.

The Madonna
1943
Oil on Canvas

"He painted quite a number of paintings of the Virgin Mary." Vanessa casually stated as you look at the painting.
"Why?"
"Not sure. Dali had a bit of an obsession with themes of ****, decay, and eroticism. The Virgin Mary is a bit the antithesis of that in some way. A wholesome virgin who gave life to son of God and has become immortalized through her own legend. Kind of the polar opposite. Maybe she was interesting to "corrupt"."
"You sure know a lot about Dali."
"Well... surrealism has always been my favourite art movement. It's kind of like finding the beauty in flaws. It's like surrealism is the uncanny valley made into art. Modern and post-modern pieces are more about the aesthetic impression in and of it self. It's abstract, and it's weird and it's interesting, but there is nothing really recognizable or relatable in it. A lot of earlier eras on the other hand, was realistic in their portrayal of the world. It's virtuous and impressive and we can recognize the things in them, but it lacks the fantastical element. It lacks further ideas and concepts that are not just still moments in time or images of religions. Like sure, there might be an angel in a painting, and that's certainly mythical and unrealistic, but it's still a creature with absolutely realistic body proportions. Surrealism captures a sweet spot between the two, but it just turns out that sweet spot is weird and often quite ugly. You can recognize that they are clocks, but they are melting. You can recognize that the painting over there is of a woman, but her skin is weirdly grey and her body is oddly shaped. It's not the prettiest art, and it's not the wildest or weirdest art, but to me it has always seemed the most meaningful. It has always seemed the most human and flawed."
Never has Vanessa reminded you as much of her sister than with that monologue.
"Do you see yourself in that painting?" you ask.
"Yeah, a bit. The Virgin Mary is an ideal of sorts. An untouchable pureness. Something everyone should strive for, but which is impossible to reach. We're all corrupted Marys. I like to be an ideal like her, but I'm not good enough. I'm too flawed."
"Don't you think striving for perfection is setting yourself up for disappointment? Aren't you asking too much of yourself?"
"Hey, look in a mirror, Ms. I-take-in-two-homeless-women-and-go-out-of-my-way-to-make-these-random-stranger's-lives-the-best-that-I-can-and-I-still-feel-like-shit-about-it."
"Touché." you chuckle: "Maybe it's something we can work on together."
"Yeah." she sighs.
You look at the painting for a couple of seconds.

"Do you draw?" you ask.
"I used to. I wasn't very good." she replies. She says she isn't good, but...
"Hey," you say as you get up from the bench: "I think we've seen everything in the Dali collection. Do you want to get out of here? There is something I want to check."
"Yeah, okay." Vanessa replies: "We've been here for quite some time now."
You walk down to the hallway, but you decide to take a detour into the museum's gift shop. Of course they have drawing tools. They're really overpriced, but whatever, you are not for cheap for sketching materials, you are here to prove a point, damnit! You buy a sketchpad, a collection of pencils with different levels of softness, an eraser, and a small pencil sharpener. You walk outside the museum, and sit on a nearby bench. You can see most of Lake Mendota from here. The weather is pretty clear, ideal for drawing.
"Got the drawing bug?" Vanessa asks.
"It's not for me." you say in a cocky way while you hand her the sketch book.
"Oh no, I'm rusty and not-" she starts, but you interrupt.
"I'm not some big scary anonymous art critic, I'm just your impressionable roomie that holds you very dear." you say reassuringly.
"That kind of makes it worse." Vee replies blushing.
"I know it'll just be a quick sketch, and it won't be representative of your fully realized talent. Just please draw something."
"O-okay." Vanessa finally submits.

She starts sketching something, but before it becomes something you can recognize she furiously squiggles over it. She starts a new page, and tries again, but it doesn't take long for her to discard it as well. She does this a few times, and after the fifth drawing you stop her.
"Vee, try to find something you truly wish to draw. And then draw it to completion. If you make a mistake, it's okay, don't scrap it, try to make the flaw beautiful, like what you told me about Dali. Take something you find ideal, and then corrupt it."
She looks down her notebook and turns to a fresh page. She then look back up at you and looks you in the eyes. She then kind of scans the rest of your face, and then your body. Then she scans her own body. She then then she begins to draw furiously.
You see the cute blonde go at it for about ten minutes, different pencils at different intervals, using the eraser to strategically soften some edges. At one point she asks you to sharpen one of the pencils for her, and you oblige. And then suddenly, she stops. She's finished her drawing. She nervously hands it to you.

It's good. Really good. You kind of knew it was going to be good, but for a 10 minute sketch, this is phenomenal. Well, okay, as you said, you're no art critic, and you might just be easily impressed. It's not exactly the same field as web design.
The picture seems heavily inspired by the surrealism you've just discussed. It features two women, merging, almost melting into each other. They are naked. One has blonde hair, and the other has brown hair. It looks like they're trying to eat each other. Or, maybe they're kissing. Yeah, they're definitely kissing.
"Rusty, my ass." you say out loud.
"Oh, if you need to stand up a bit and walk around, feel free."
What? No. How could she possibly think that 'that' was what you meant? How could anyone think that?
"No, I'm just saying it's a shame you stopped drawing. This is fantastic."
"You think so?"
"Of course."
"Don't just say it to cheer me up."
"I'm not."
"But I'm not good at it."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Please, don't..."

Vanessa looks like she is about to have an anxiety attack. Her utter refusal to acknowledge any positive aspect about herself.

You finally get it. It isn't humbleness. It was never humbleness.

"Why do you hate yourself so much?"

It hurts. It hurts to see her like this. It hurts really badly.

"I don't hate myself." she answers: "At least I don't think so."
"But your insecurities are making you **** yourself."
"But I'm worthless. I can't draw, I can't cook, I am not smart, I am not insightful, I am greedy, I am lazy, I am ugly-"
"Wow, exactly zero percent of what you said just now is true." you bite in.
"I am just not good enough. What could anyone ever really love someone like me?"
She seems to have hidden her self-loathing really well, but it's all coming out now. You are battling her true inner demons now.
You look at her sketch in your hands.
"Do you see yourself in this drawing too?" you ask.
"I think the brunette woman is the ideal, and the blonde woman is the corrupting element." she says tears forming in her eyes.
You give a little laugh.
"Heh, it's funny. It thought the exact same thing but the other way around."
Vee looks sadly into the ground.
"But maybe we're both wrong. Maybe it's not about corruption at all." you say as you get up from the bench. Vanessa slowly looks up at your face.
You continue: "Maybe Dali's clocks aren't actually melting. Maybe they are amorphous blobs slowly forming into clocks. Maybe the Virgin Mary isn't in the middle of being corrupted, but in the middle of being purified. Maybe the women in your drawing aren't corrupting each other. Maybe they are merging to become whole... and perfect."
Vanessa looks at you with what almost looks like a newfound respect.
"I never really thought about it that way." she says, and she slowly gets up from the bench as well.
You look her in the eyes: "You're pretty weird, Vee. You're kind of twisted. Your interests of art and sports mix really bizarrely. You have some things you need to work through. Some insecurities that definitely shouldn't be there. You're definitely flawed. You're perfectly flawed."
She smiles a warm smile, and it makes your heart look like a Dali painting.
You hold up her drawing and you give her a goofy grin.
"And this is true art."
She looks at you with a half-smug grin.
"Hmmm.... I don't think that's true art."

She then grabs the sides of your head and attack your lips with hers.

Your lips touch, and the universe forms.

You merge.

"Now that's true art."