Happy Tycoon

Although the vault looks a bit crude on the outside, the inside of the door is not simple at all.

The entire safe is located in the middle of the fourth floor of this building, covering about one hundred square meters, and it is divided into six separate small safes, each of which also has a separate combination lock.

Only Old Mike can enter this vault, not even the painter Robert he hired to manage the daily work of the gallery. Therefore, after Old Mike entered, these six small vaults were closed one by one. All opened.

All of these small vaults are filled with paintings. Some of these paintings are hung on the walls, and some are placed on special easels. A vault can hold about 20 oil paintings.

Cole, do you know why I put these oil paintings here and don't worry? Because these oil paintings are not famous paintings. Not only were the prices low when they were purchased, but I think these words are investment, so these paintings are on the one hand. It is used for collection, and on the other hand, it can also be regarded as investment. Old Mike pointed to those oil paintings and talked eloquently.

Actually, I thought investing in oil paintings was a very good investment, so I started to try, and it turned out to be pretty good. Here, look at this painting. It's a painting by John Patrick O'Brien. It's his Created in 1987, I bought this painting in 1990, which cost me $120,000. As a result, O'Brien's reputation has soared in recent years, and his works are full of 'modern romantic realism'. Now it has begun to be widely collected by many private individuals in the Federation and Europe. If this painting is auctioned now, the minimum starting price will be more than 800,000 US dollars. If you meet someone who likes this painting, it will be auctioned for millions of dollars. The price is not unusual. In just six years, my investment has doubled seven times, is this investment considered good?

Yang Jing nodded, Mike, what you said is right. In the past few years, with the recovery of the federal economy and the rise of the IT industry, a large number of millionaires, tens of millions, and even billionaires have been created. The industry is booming, whether it is oil painting or other works of art, it is actually a good time to invest.”

Old Mike nodded with a smile. The boss's compliment obviously made him very proud.

Of course he would not use these paintings as investment. Although he bought these paintings, the boss in front of him paid for them. With the owner's net worth, any random uprooting is worth a hundred times more than the sum of the paintings in this room.

So these paintings are mainly used for collection.

Although the value of these paintings is not very high, Yang Jing also looked at them with great interest.

He himself is not very proficient in Western painting. Now that there are so many works of modern painters in front of him, it is enough to increase his knowledge of Western painting.

A still life oil painting in front of him aroused Yang Jing's interest, he leaned closer to appreciate it carefully, and nodded with satisfaction.

Although this still life oil painting is still a little immature, there is already a touch of a master's charm between the structures. It is probably not the work of a famous artist when he was young, or a future famous artist who has not yet become famous.

Seeing that Yang Jing was interested in this painting, Old Mike came up to him, took out his reading glasses and put them on, then looked at the work and said: This is a federal youth who just came out a few years ago. The artist's painting, the artist's name is David Lefer. Although his still life oil paintings are still a little immature, they are full of charm and have a Rembrandt style. I bought this painting the year before last and spent three $10,000, but I think if Leifer is given a certain amount of time, he will definitely be able to soar.

Yang Jing agrees with this statement, Yang Jing can see the charm contained in this painting, just as the old Mike judged, as long as this young artist can persevere in his efforts, then it is only a matter of time before he becomes famous.

Yang Jing's judgment was really correct. If he went back to the original time and space to check this David Lefer, then he would know that this David Lefer became famous after entering the new century. It is also known as modern Rembrandt.

After visiting several small vaults in a row, Yang Jing was very satisfied with the paintings bought by Old Mike.

As Old Mike said just now, there are few works of famous masters in these paintings, and most of them are works of painters who are not yet famous, but Yang Jing can see that these paintings have great value-added potential.

In the last small vault, Yang Jing found a surprise.

Mike, is this the work of Norman Rockwell? Where did you get it? Seeing the three works in front of him, Yang Jing was really pleasantly surprised.

Haha, I let you find it. How about it, isn't this a good surprise? Old Mike asked with a smile on his face asking for credit.

It's really a surprise. I really didn't expect you to be able to buy Rockwell's works. Well, let me see, Christ Jesus, are these three paintings Rockwell's works before 1943?

Bingo! Cole, you are right. These three works are indeed works created by Rockwell before 1943. I was lucky enough to see these three works at a friend's place. I bought it for 2.1 million U.S. dollars. Well, the transaction was completed the night before yesterday, and I called you here today mainly to give you this surprise.

Mike, this surprise is indeed big enough. But didn't Rockwell's works before 1943 be burned because his studio caught fire that year? Why are these three works still there?

Old Mike shook his head and said: The fire in 1943 did not burn all the works in Rockwell's studio, and a small part was rescued. These three paintings survived the fire. more difficult.

Yang Jing shook his head slightly in disbelief, 2.1 million US dollars, three paintings, not expensive, not expensive! Mike, the deal you made is very cost-effective.

Old Mike also shook his head slightly, Cole, it's not a good deal either. The average painting is close to 700,000 US dollars. This price is not cheap.

Old Mike’s words made Yang Jing immediately realize that he had made a mistake. It is now 1996. Rockwell’s paintings are indeed not very valuable in this era. He just substituted the price twenty years later into the this age.

American modernist Yang Jing is not familiar with many, but Norman Rockwell is one of the few American painters Yang Jing is familiar with, because when he was in London, he happened to see it when he visited the British Museum. I have been to Rockwell's very famous Self-Portrait of Three People. At that time, Yang Jing was very interested in this painting. After I went back, I checked the information of Norman Rockwell, so he was very familiar with Rockwell. of paintings.

In 1973, the Gallup Poll in the United States once asked such a question for the survey of the United States: Who do you think is the most outstanding contemporary painter? As a result, 82% of the respondents will be Norman Rockwell Regarded as the most outstanding contemporary painter, he is said to be the recorder of America's times.

The American Excellent Housework Illustrated once asked Rosalyn Carter, the wife of President Carter of the United States, in an interview: Which picture do you like best? Girl. The girl on the screen deeply moved me. Children sometimes yearn for adulthood, just like our Amy.

Born in 1894, the painter became an illustrator from the age of 16 until the age of 82. He continued to create throughout his life and was once hailed as the most popular artist of this century by the New York Times.

Rockwell's works record the development and changes of the United States in the 20th century: from the barefoot boy in the hot summer to the astronaut who stepped on the moon; from the lazy town storefront to the skyscraper office; from the colorful fairy tale From books to shining TV screens. His works not only cover the two world wars, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the economic depression and racial problems in the United States, but also include successive presidents from Kennedy to Carter, movie stars, and Boy Scouts and more. However, Rockwell's favorite theme is the frank and innocent child.

This American painter who is thirteen years younger than Picasso can be regarded as a contemporary of Picasso. But compared to the famous Picasso, Rockwell, who was born as an illustrator, was far from being able to compare with Picasso in any aspect. There are even many serious critics or artists who always think that Rockwell is just an illustrator, and his paintings are just designed for printing, with simple and flat colors.

But, according to many who have seen Rockwell's original work, that is not the case. The originals of his oil paintings are fine in color and varied in brush strokes. They said: You can't tell his painting skills from the printed matter. From the early years, when he was painting, he always stuck a note with 100% on the top of the canvas, reminding himself that every time Every painting must be put on with 100% energy.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this seriousness and hard work that Rockwell became the most popular artist in the United States in this century.

In fact, Rockwell's works will not have a blowout until after the new century. Before the new century, except for a few limited works, the value of other works is not very high.

However, in the new century, especially in the second decade of the new century, the value of Norman Rockwell's works skyrocketed.

On December 4, 2013, at the special auction of American art held at Sotheby's in New York, the work Prayer created by Rockwell in 1951 was estimated at 5 million to 20 million U.S. dollars. In the end, it was sold for an incredible $46 million, which was the latest record for a Rockwell work at auction.

In this painting Prayer, the little boy with the back of his head exposed and the neatly dressed grandmother in the painting bowed their heads and prayed to God for the food on the table in a dilapidated restaurant next to the train station. The two idle young men at the same table with them, one with a cigarette butt between his fingers, and the other with a cigarette at the corner of his mouth, stared at them eagerly.

In this auction, another Rockwell painting Spreading Rumors created in 1948, also known as The Gossiper, was auctioned at the finale. In the end, this painting was sold for 8,500 The sky-high price of ten thousand dollars! Then it directly broke the record that Prayer had just set.

For the painting Spreading Rumors, Rockwell had been brewing for as long as thirteen years. He had painted the subject before, with the 1948 version beginning with just two gossipers, growing to ten before developing into a living painting of fifteen different figures. According to Rockwell, these people in the painting are his neighbors in Arlington. He included himself and his wife Mary in the painting to avoid suspicion of insulting the neighbors, but some people were still very angry. He himself is the subject of the conversation, and in the lower right corner of the work, he confronts the originator of these rumors.

In addition, Rockwell's Walking to the Church created in 1952 was sold for 33 million US dollars, and his other Leaving Home was sold for 15.4 million US dollars .

But in any case, these works with more than eight figures are the works of Rockwell after his studio caught fire, but the previous works have never appeared on the market.

And now, there are three works created by Rockwell before 1943. This surprise is really unexpected!

PS: Bow and thank you for the 100 tip of w Gentle Knife.