In a large, high end art fair, you will be surrounded by beautiful paintings and prints and sculptures. But you will also be surrounded by the sales associates for the various galleries that have booths there.

These associates are usually attractive, well put together women and men who are expert in convincing you that your life is incomplete if these paintings don't go home with you.

But sometimes, the sales associates at the booths are distracted. They have other things on their minds. They might be thinking of the love that got away. Or the love that should have left already. Or the painting of a young man that reminds the sales associate of a long ago crush.

If you cut down the color and the noise, you can hear their inner thoughts, their stories of love that did not go right. With so much beauty around them, how could these art fair workers not think of the love that ran out the side entrance?

The Ekprasis Take-Away is an ezine of stories taken from actual paintings seen in galleries and museums. These five paintings come from an exhibit at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in October of 2025.