Spanish painter Giovanni Bragolin lived from 1911 to 1981, and was popular for creating paintings of crying children for tourists in post-war Venice. The group of paintings is called Crying Boys, and he made at least 65 of them. They were also mass produced by others and sold worldwide. There is no way to know how many of these pieces are in existence.

On September 4 of 1985, a story was released in a British newspaper called The Sun concerning a curse related to these paintings. Headlined Blazing Curse of the Crying Boy, the account is about Ron and May Hall’s house fire. The Halls had no doubt that their Crying Boy painting was responsible for the fire that destroyed their home of 27 years in the mining town of Rotherham. The painting “continued to hang there, undamaged, surrounded by a scene of devastation.”

Mr. Hall’s brother, Peter, a Yorkshire fireman added some additional interesting information to the story: these paintings often showed up in the “ruins of burned houses.” The painting was often the only undamaged item found in the remains of the burned structure.

After the story ran, the British newspaper started to receive phone calls from people in the area who claimed to own a copy of the painting. Additionally, many of these individuals had an interesting story to tell related to the “cursed” painting.

Oddly enough, The Sun offered the owners of these paintings an opportunity to get rid of them. The newspaper held a huge bonfire in late 1985 and many of the paintings were destroyed at that time.

However, not all of them. Reports of the Crying Boy paintings being found in the charred remains of homes continued for many years.

Investigations by various psychics indicate that the paintings are possessed or haunted by “the spirit of the boy it depicts.”

It is said that Bragolin claimed the subject of the painting to be a “street urchin he found wandering around Madrid in 1969.” The child’s name was said to be Don Bonillo. He didn’t talk and always looked very sorrowful because he had witnessed the death of his parents in a fire. Supposedly, Bragolin was warned by a Catholic priest about the child. He was called “Diablo” because fires of unknown origin often broke out when he was in the vicinity.

A sample of these paintings can be viewed at: https://socialphy.com/cursed-painter-bruno-amadio-the-crying-boy/.

References and additional information:
https://drdavidclarke.co.uk/urban-legendary/the-curse-of-the-crying-boy/
https://socialphy.com/cursed-painter-bruno-amadio-the-crying-boy/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Bragolin