The War of Art (DW short story)

The War of Art was a short story written by Paul Cornell. It was a reward for winning Amy's History Hunt, a special online game. It was based on events the Doctor encounters during the events of the game and was presented in PDF format.
== Summary ==
The Doctor leaves his favourite painting in an art gallery. He returns to find it, but he is not the only one that wants it.
== Characters ==
* Eleventh Doctor
* Armidagertaflex 333.9
* Android Artists
** Andy Warhol
** Roy Lichtenstein
** Pablo Picasso
** Salvador Dalí
** René Magritte
** Pierre-Auguste Renoir
** Henri Rousseau
** Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
** William Turner
** Michelangelo
* Arucha
** Arucha Commander
** Arucha Lieutenant
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor, in his eleventh incarnation, had met Armidagertaflex 333.9 before.
* Andy Warhol had painted all eleven incarnations of the Doctor in the summer of 1966. He had visited him every Thursday.
* The Arucha have sonic lances.
* The Doctor says "nice to see you, to see you nice", the catchphrase of Bruce Forsyth.
* Amidag refers to Matisse, Zoirarghhh and Claude Monet.
* The Doctor gives the Arucha a sculpture by Venusian artist Radico Harstel, and calls it The Physical Impossibility of Getting a Shanghorn into a Glass Tank.
* The Doctor refers to the sculpture being left on an asteroid two years after the incident after having read it in a paper. This is a paradox as the Doctor only chose the sculpture because he knew the Arucha would leave it there.
* The Doctor visited the Musée d'Orsay in 3110 when it was run by a Silurian.
* The Pandorica Opens is called Blue Box Exploding.
== Story notes ==
* The title is a play on the cult book The Art of War by Sun Tzu. The book offers guidelines for warfare in ancient China.
* The statement that Andy Warhol painted all eleven incarnations of the Doctor transparently mirrors one made by the alternate Ninth Doctor of the webcast, Scream of the Shalka, (also written by Paul Cornell) that Warhol had "once wanted to paint all nine of [me]".
== Continuity ==
* While the Doctor searches for his painting, Amy hunts for it herself. (WC: Amy's History Hunt)
* The Doctor's TARDIS was previously mistaken for a work of art. (TV: City of Death, The Fires of Pompeii)
* The Doctor asks if there was an android of Vincent van Gogh. There was not as his brilliant mind would not enter any android. The Doctor also mentions van Gogh making Amy cry. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
* The Doctor is looking for Vincent van Gogh's painting, The Pandorica Opens. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
* The Doctor mentions getting off on the wrong foot with Pablo Picasso. He had previously said that he advised him. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
* The Doctor calls Michelangelo "Mikey". He had previously mentioned meeting him. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
* The Doctor also visited the Musée d'Orsay in 2010. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
* The Doctor mentions that the TARDIS did and did not explode. (TV: The Big Bang)
== External links ==
* BBC - Doctor Who - The War of Art (link to PDF)
* BBC - Amy's History Hunt - Introduction (geolocked to UK)
Category:Web-based Doctor Who short stories
Category:2010 short stories
Category:Eleventh Doctor short stories
Category:Stories set in 3110
fr:The War of Art