An 89-year-old grandmother in the United States was left feeling sad and “foolish” after next-to-no-one showed up to her art exhibition.
Magdalene Jourdan’s exhibition was titled Reflections of a Lifetime, and was attended by her granddaughter Lily Jourdan, who posted the picture of her downtrodden grandma to social media site Twitter with the caption: “Dressed so nice for her art showing at the library and no-one went”.
“Came home from an away game and my grandma went to her art showing and no-one went. She called herself foolish,” the tweet said.
It wasn’t long before the post, which went up on the Mother’s Day weekend, became a hit online, with thousands of people from around the US retweeting it and responding with their frustration at being so far away from the exhibit, which was in Connecticut.
The Facebook page for the event was also brimming with encouragement from friends, strangers and even one celebrity – actor Stephen Baldwin’s daughter Hailey Baldwin, a mode: “tell Grandma I love her art!”
Lily showed her grandma some of the responses, including a video of a girl crying over the sad turnout, and filmed Magdalene’s response.
“I am glad you cried because I reached your soul, I feel we are soulmates now because you understand me and that makes me so happy,” Magdalene said.
“I thought I was forgotten, nobody gave a hoot. But, we will prevail and we’ll turn around all this ugliness,” she said.
While the exhibit never quite managed to pull people in by the thousand, according to Buzzfeed, a few more people turned up and Magdalene was pleased.
She also released an artist statement to explain the purpose behind her exhibit (pictured below). It details her childhood near the Danube in Europe, her passion for painting, and where her work can be found, including Australia.
The story evokes similar emotions as this one, about a grandfather who made burgers for his six grandchildren, only to have one turn up.
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