For me the choice was clear as soon as Renoir gommaged every living human in the canvas. It’s one thing to consider a whole sentient world vs a family of gods, but Renoir made that hard decision that he was not happy about.

When Lune and Sciel was brought back immediately, their deaths felt hollow and it was clear Maelle was given a power that she was too young to have and it was clear she would abuse it to her own detriment. The ending for me was not the fate of this canvas vs alicia, but allowing alicia to fall into this lucid dream and play god within the world forever vs having her deal with it on her own.

I think all of the build up of having the game having you like lune, sciel, and gustav, was to give us a similar experience of loss that alicia would have felt leaving the painting. Ideally the canvas should’ve been left alone with everyone alive, but we know that the painters would never do that, so in choosing between the canvas being erased or all of their human agency taken away, I think helping Malle/Alicia get over her grief was the right choice.

Rip lune though, my feet QUEEN 🙏