Almighty painter

Chapter 382 The Moon and Six Million Pounds

"Whoever becomes the next famous realist watercolor artist after the war will get the ownership of this painting? It sounds like a very interesting agreement. It is worth a lot of money."

Gu Weijing commented.

For reasons such as tax avoidance and asset preservation.

Privately conduct physical exchanges between art collections and pawn shop transactions, or use physical objects as gifts.

Doing so would be illegal in some states in the United States, but it is not uncommon in continental Europe or among private collector groups.

Menzel and Castiglione are similar in that they are both artists whose vast majority of collections are collected by national sovereign galleries and have been passed down in an orderly manner.

The main collection of the old National Gallery on Museum Island is Menzel's paintings, and it is also known as "Menzel's Museum".

This kind of collection of court painters living abroad is very small, and each one is expensive.

If it is indeed the same as his guess.

This is indeed a very generous arts sponsorship.

Painters go crazy for art exhibitions, certainly because participating in art exhibitions can bring very rich material gains.

But this kind of gain mainly comes from the increase in net worth and the nature of painting sales and transactions of the art exhibition itself. It is not the bonus from the art exhibition that has such appeal.

Most developments give prize money to winners, not much.

$5 is already high.

Especially for certain exhibitions and art salons with a long history, the prize money will only be adjusted every many years.

When it was established in 2500, the maximum bonus awarded to the winner by the organizing committee was around US$.

Back then, if I saved a little money, I could really buy a sailing yacht and travel around the world.

Until now, I can’t even afford a better Apple laptop.

Over the past half century, the appreciation rate of art has been much faster than the depreciation rate of currency inflation.

Gu Weijing didn't know the size of the "Berlin Palace".

If you think about the value of a Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, no matter how conservative it is today, two new Rolls-Royces should be available.

The most valuable watercolor master today, even if he has won all the major prizes such as the Turner Prize, the Venice Watercolor Festival, the Detailed Watercolor Prize, and the Barcelona Watercolor Prize, he would never dare to say that one of his watercolors is better than Mencier's. valuable.

This is one of the most generous rewards in the art world.

only……

Gu Weijing was a little curious.

A bet of this magnitude is no child's play.

So how do these two art masters call themselves masters of realistic watercolor painting?

What counts as "realistic" and what counts as "famous"?

Even though the post-war art landscape, as President Miller said, is becoming more and more imaginative, focusing more and more on creative form rather than painting techniques.

But watercolor is, after all, a very popular mainstream painting method.

A well-known painter who specializes in realism can casually name ten or eight names without any difficulty.

Gu Weijing has never heard of it. A certain art media reported that this big pie hit the head of a lucky watercolor painter.

It was even today that he heard about this bet for the first time.

strange?

It should be in line with common sense for such a big reward to be under the spotlight of the media all day long.

"If this bet is only half as big as this, then it must be one of the most watched art awards today. Gu, the reason why only very few local Hamburg artists have heard of this bet is not because the bet is not big enough, but It’s just that it’s just too big, a bit too big.”

"Too much?"

Gu Weijing's eyebrows blinked.

It's hard for him to imagine.

What kind of bet will make the management of "Oil Painting" magazine and KIH feel headaches now? "Berlin Palace" most likely does not have such qualifications.

Menzel's works are certainly an excellent collection of art.

Don’t talk about technique but value.

Menzel's level of attention is at best as different as that of Reannault, a bit worse than Monet and Turner, and not as good as Leonardo da Vinci or Van Gogh.

It's just a landscape painting, not the Mona Lisa.

It would probably fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

It's a huge sum of money for ordinary people, but it doesn't matter whether it's an old-money wealthy family like the Irina family or a top artist association like KIH.

Who would really care?

Tell him intuitively.

It must be something ridiculously expensive.

"Don't worry, listen to what I say. I already said that this is a bet between the Elena family and KIH. Since it is a bet, it is impossible for only one party to bid. You haven't listened to the old chairman's promise yet."

"The other party who bid for the bet came up with a more precious bargaining chip. Compared with it, a work by a German national treasure painter is just insignificant."

Wattle paused deliberately, and saw the expected uncontrollable curiosity in the eyes of the young man next to him.

The sketch teacher, who had been impressed by the student's drawing ability all afternoon, felt his vanity satisfied.

Then he cleared his throat, coughed twice, and said slowly.

"After the war, the chairman was wooing the Austrian National Publishing Group and representatives of leading art institutions to join the management of Oil Painting magazine. He hoped to single-handedly turn the family magazine founded by his grandfather into an authoritative, diversified , can become an authoritative guide like the Bible in the field of art criticism."

"And he is the helmsman of this art aircraft carrier."

"To put it bluntly, in the past few years, art godfathers such as Larry Gagosian have been working hard to achieve something. The other party had already built the prototype half a century ago."

"In exchange for the "Berlin Palace", the chairman received two thousand shares of the magazine."

"Based on the depreciated exchange rate during the Allied occupation at that time, each share was valued at about 2100 Reichsmarks in the previous transaction. The shares only accounted for a small proportion of the magazine, and the total amount was almost equal to a fine Menzel watercolor. "

“Both parties exchanged each other.”    “The chairman received a famous painting that he had longed for. The Hamburg Art Association relied on the stocks it held to become a representative of the German art world and entered the board of directors and management of the "Oil Painting" magazine .”

"It not only removes the background of the Third Reich and puts down the historical baggage. The two organizations can unite together and expand each other's influence, which is a win-win situation. This is the first half of the bet. And the second half is the two The seniors inspired German painters——"

Vettel took a deep breath and told him about this sky-high price bet from seventy years ago.

"If within a century from the start of the performance of the contract, the original words came from KIH members, 'Who can carve out a peanut shell with exquisite and realistic watercolor brushwork like the craters on the moon', continuously throughout the year? He won the highest awards in three exhibitions: the Hamburg Artists Association Anniversary Exhibition, the Cologne Art Exhibition, and the "Kassel Documenta", which also aimed to get rid of the German cultural imprint of World War II and was still being prepared at the time. ’”

"Then, he will automatically obtain the ownership of "Berlin Palace" from the Irina family. And KIH will pay an amount equivalent to the value of the shares of "Oil Painting" magazine that were donated to him as the artist's creation. Funds. Regardless of the value of the shares at the time, and whether the magazine Oil Painting still exists. The capital for the creation must not be less than 400 million Reichsmarks or its equivalent in pounds sterling."

Two thousand original shares of "Oil Painting" magazine in 1946?

When Gu Weijing realized it.

When the chairman used such precious things to bet, he couldn't help but tremble slightly.

perhaps……

Seventy years ago, the shares of Oil Painting magazine were nothing.

Two thousand shares are about the same as a Menzel landscape watercolor. In the eyes of the world, it is a normal exchange of equal value.

Make a bet!

Your family produces an orange, and our family produces an apple or something.

Although "Oil Painting" magazine was already a long-established literary and art journal before World War II, it was still dependent on the Irina family.

Moreover, due to war reasons, publication was suspended for a period of time during World War II, and it was far from as famous as it is today. It has a unique and irreplaceable position in the field of art.

When establishing a bet.

The chairman was obviously worried that in the future changes to the magazine, the valuation would depreciate too much, or that "Oil Painting" would simply go bankrupt due to poor management.

Later generations obviously do not need to worry about the poor management of "Oil Painting" magazine.

Although he hates this magazine.

But... he also knows that this may be one of the paper media with the highest commercial value today.

Owning Menzel's paintings would make investors feel pretty good, at least if they beat inflation and don't shrink the family's wealth.

The original stock held by "Oil Painting" magazine appreciated so fast that it made people want to take off.

In the hands of the old chairman, the magazine was just a media passed down to him from his ancestors for entertainment and entertainment.

The political significance is far greater than the monetary significance, and it only accounts for a very small part of his property.

Two thousand shares were exchanged for KIH, and a painting of "Berlin Palace" was also exchanged.

What a bargain.

Most of the shares sold to the Austrian National Publishing Group and the European Art Association were only sold for a symbolic one shilling in total.

No one could have imagined it.

Seventy years have passed, and the fruits picked casually in the orchard of Elena's family have turned into the golden apples of the Muse.

Even if Miss Anna herself considers selling her main properties in South America and Australia and exhausts all the liquidity reserves she can mobilize, she will not be able to buy back one-third of the magazine's shares from the board of directors.

After the war, 400 million German marks was equivalent to about pounds.

up to now.

Probably more than a million.

"Have you guessed how much money the magazine held by the Hamburg Art Association made today?" Vatel couldn't help bragging in a tone that was like describing the treasure of the Golden King Solomon.

The sketch teacher stretched out the palm of his left hand, and then raised the index finger of his right hand to the side.

"An external professor in my high school happened to be a member of the Hamburg Artists Association. As early as the time when I was in school and heard this story, it was already worth six million pounds, so he called it 'about the moon and the moon'. Six million pounds' bet of the century."

Gu Weijing was amazed at the appreciation speed of Oil Painting Magazine's shares, and lamented that this was really an astronomical bonus.

Six million pounds of creative funding.

This money is enough to buy an island in the Pacific and become the king there.

This was the price when Professor Vattle was in school.

Based on the movements of "Oil Painting" in the financial market in recent years, it is estimated that it will more than double or even double.

“Before the restructuring, the Hamburg Artists Association was the third largest holding organization of Oil Painting magazine, after the Austrian government and the European Art Association, and it enjoyed a board seat. This is no secret. The official website of Oil Painting magazine It’s all marked.”

"In the first ten years, both parties regarded it simply as an incentive bet. They would tell every painter who joined KIH about this reward agreement. Soon, when KIH suddenly discovered that the "Oil Painting" in his hand After the shares suddenly became the most important asset of the association, the mentality changed subtly."

"The master doesn't mind giving a sweet fruit to the farmer who works the hardest."

"But there is a high probability that no owner will be so generous as to give away his entire orchard to others, right?"

"The Elena family is also willing to maintain the overall stability of Oil Painting magazine. Therefore, after the death of the old chairman, the two parties almost no longer mentioned such an agreement, and even deliberately kept it secret to control the spread of the news."

"Many local art practitioners in Hamburg have heard similar stories. Some media tabloids that did not like Oil Painting magazine have gossiped about this story. But both parties to the bet have been willing to maintain the original appearance and maintained a tacit understanding over the years. Silence. Not sure, not rejecting, simply ignoring such news and treating it coldly."

"Over time, this is like the treasure left behind by the pirate captain Blackbeard before he was hanged. It seems that there is such a thing, but not many people believe from the bottom of their hearts that this thing is true. Except for a few People who count.”

Wattle pointed to his nose proudly.

"Are you one of the few?"

Gu Weijing glanced at the German next to him.

He had attended the other party's classes at Dewey for several years, but he did not realize that this old-fashioned and upright teacher was actually as well-informed and gossipy as Miss Koko in his hometown.

"Hey, being a teacher at Dulwich College is also a very good job for art practitioners, right?"

Watter noticed Gu Weijing's suspicious eyes, his self-esteem was hit, and he knocked on the table hard in anger.

"Besides, Vattel is a well-known name in the Hamburg art circle. Our family may not have produced any great painters, but my great-grandfather has been a painter in the local church since then."

"The most important aspect of art is interpersonal relationships, which our family has no shortage of in Hamburg. The external professor is also our distant cousin. This story was secretly told to me by the other party at the Christmas dinner table. He smiled and told me Learn watercolors well. He said he had the opportunity to see the original documents in the safe. This bet is genuine."

(End of this chapter)