Mona Lisa Nose Job handmade collage

In the evening Mona called on friends in neighboring canvases. The images were all abuzz about a traveling show coming to the museum. Always interested in meeting new paintings, Mona wanted to know more about the visiting figures. The others explained that these were not portraits, but a collection of sunflower paintings made by the Dutch artist, Vincent van Gogh. ‘How interesting could paintings of sunflowers be?’ she wondered. But when the show arrived and Mona walked among them she discovered that they were more expressive than she had imagined. She longed to surround herself with them. Working quietly, she gathered all of the vases into a single canvas and sat herself down among them. The sea of yellowy orange thrilled her. She inhaled deeply and found herself overcome not with emotion, but with a fit of sneezing. Mona sneezed so hard in fact that she blew the nose right off her face. She moved frantically among the flowers searching for the missing flake of paint that had once been her nose. She dreaded the thought of what would happen when it would be noted tomorrow. Try as she might, she could not locate the flake.

As dawn cast its first light across the gallery floors, Mona raced back to her canvas, covering the gape in her face with a hand. Napoleon astride his horse called out, “Everything all right?” Mona stopped and turned to him and burst into tears. Napoleon dismounted. “There. There,” he said, leading her toward the background where other figures stood. “Old Bessiere here has no need for his nose. Isn’t that right Old Fellow?” Old Bessiere bowed, “My nose is your nose,” he said as he reached up, pulled it off, and handed it to her. “How shall I ever repay you?” she asked. Old Bessiere just smiled. “Time is wasting,” he said. “Run along my dear.” “Thank you,” Mona cried. “You’re a dear.”