Chapter 221 I do my own thing, not flattering the world

Cambridge is not far from London, Xiaobai's drive is very smooth, the speed is not fast, it takes about an hour to arrive in London, and the hotel in London Xiaobai and others have been booked before departure, no need for Li Mobai to worry about it.

After a short rest in the hotel, Li Mobai picked up the information collected by Xiaobai and the two and looked at it, I have to say that the information of these two people is still quite detailed, and all the auctions this time, the collectors who may participate in them have introduced them in detail.

The evening auction is a major auction hosted by the international auction house Sotheby, and it is also the most important auction of the autumn auction. Evening auctions have always been boutique auctions, with items worth much more than during the day, and the participating collectors are top collectors who must have VIP membership in the auction house to participate.

The so-called membership is nothing more than a symbol of financial strength, which has nothing to do with status and taste, of course, this is an era when wealth represents everything, and everything has wealth with wealth.

Li Mobai's membership has been there for a long time, and when he first came to the UK to study, Boguge had already given Li Mobai members of international auction houses such as Sotheby and Christie's.

After reading the catalogue of lots, Li Mobai had to sigh that both power and wealth in the world today are concentrated in developed countries in Europe and the United States, and the domestic media have always said that China's cultural relics have been auctioned at sky-high prices, but in fact, Western paintings and antiques in the West are the real sky-high prices, and the auction price of a post-war sculpture can reach nearly 100 million US dollars, and Picasso's works have exceeded 100 million US dollars.

As far as Europe and the United States are concerned, the most important works of art are sculpture and oil painting, followed by jewelry and furniture, Li Mobai has always believed that it is because the West is a nouveau riche with a heritage, but because of the developed economy and the control of the world's discourse, so Western oil painting and sculpture have become the pinnacle of the world's art auctions.

Due to the speculation of Western auction houses and investors, the works of several contemporary Chinese oil painting craftsmen have also been pushed to the threshold of tens of millions or even 100 million yuan, which in Li Mobai's view has nothing to do with art at all, and is purely an art speculation. Many times people only see the price, thinking that the high-priced works also have the highest artistic value, but in fact this is a real layman's idea, and the high price can only show that it is a good investment, not that it is a good artwork.

Compared with Europe and the United States to push modern works to tens of millions or even more than 100 million US dollars, the investment value of ancient Chinese calligraphy, painting and porcelain is obviously still at a low level, regardless of the controversy between oil painting and Chinese painting, in terms of that historical heritage and cultural accomplishment, the artistic heritage of Chinese painters is several times higher than that of oil painters, of course, this refers to ancient Chinese painters. In contemporary China, except for a very few famous artists, other people do not deserve to be called artists at all, although their works are sold for tens of millions of yuan at auction.

The artistic conception of Chinese painting and calligraphy is not comparable to superficial and impetuous oil paintings, it contains elements of humanities, society, thought, cultivation and other aspects, while Western oil paintings are very shallow and ugly, and may be basically indistinguishable from oil paintings and photographs in the minds of more people, or in the minds of many people, oil paintings are painting nudes.

Of course, this is a misunderstanding of oil painting, there are indeed many great oil painters in recent and contemporary times, of course, most of them are in the West, such as the surrealist painter Dalí, etc., their works often have profound meanings, but there are a few people who can really understand it, and the so-called value is nothing more than a wealth scam jointly made by investors and auction houses.

The purpose of Li Mobai's trip is not a special auction, but a private auction that includes oil paintings, sculptures, Chinese calligraphy and paintings, porcelain and other fine works, the purpose of this trip is to win a few oil paintings and ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy floating abroad, and at the same time, an important goal is to disrupt the situation, so that arrogant Westerners can also see that Chinese are not just blindly fighting with Chinese.

After lunch, Li Mobai took Jiang Xuhan to watch the preview, there are not many lots in the main auction, but it can basically be said to be a fine product, even if there is no transaction on the spot, it can become a high-profile work in the public special auction.

"Big villain, you see this is Dalí's representative painting "The Eternity of Memory"!" Jiang Suhan looked at the masterpieces at the auction and was amazed.

"Hey, this oil painting is Chinese!"

Li Mobai knew that Jiang Xuhan was talking about the painter Sanyu without looking at it, and this name was very unfamiliar to Chinese people, but when it came to Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian, everyone would definitely say that of course they knew, in fact, when Sanyu was in France, he was very familiar with Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian, and was as famous as Xu and Lin.

This is a character very similar to Van Gogh's fate, depressed during his lifetime, and after a lifetime, he went alone, but his artistic achievements after his death were discovered, "I do my own thing, not flattering the world" is Sanyu's insistence on the artistic concept, when he studied in France, he did not go to the Academy of Fine Arts to study, but sat in a café while watching "Dream of Red Mansions" or playing the violin, while painting, it can be described as a maverick, truly not flattering the world.

However, it was precisely because of his unflattering worldliness that he created his tragedy, and he was not recognized all his life, and finally died in the studio due to gas poisoning, only to be discovered a few days later. In the seventies and eighties, the prices of Sanyu's paintings were very low, unimaginably low, but at present, Sanyu's works are very popular, which is similar to Van Gogh and Bach.

From a secular point of view, Sanyu's life was a tragedy, but from the perspective of the painter himself, he insisted on his dream and never flattered the world, and from this point of view, he was happy. Compared with the oil painters in captivity in China in the sixties and seventies, he insisted on his dream and had no regrets in his artistic life.

This painting is also Li Mobai's goal today, for this painting Li Mobai prepared a budget of 100 million yuan, the domestic market is common Sanyu flowers, but the figures are rare, and this "Five Nudes" is Sanyu's portrait of the representative work.

Sosby's non-public launch of this painting this time obviously also contains the taste of testing the waters, and it is also to promote this painting to the Chinese market to create momentum, Li Mobai is clear in his heart, but Li Mobai is determined to win, for European and American devils, they have no bottom in their hearts about the valuation of this work, as long as the strategy is appropriate, it is not a big problem to win this painting.

After watching the preview, Li Mobai and Jiang Xuhan went to the restaurant for dinner, changed into formal evening dresses and went to the auction site.

However, the auction hall is full of rich people, but there is no phenomenon such as onlookers, everyone has their own circle, although Li Mobai and the two are eye-catching, they do not belong to any circle, and they are completely strange in the eyes of the big nose.

Soon after sitting down, the auction began, Li Mobai received a good card of 47, looking at this number, Jiang Suhan couldn't help laughing, and whispered, "No. 47, I think you really look like AK47!" ”

Hearing Jiang Xuhan's ambiguous words, Li Mobai smiled, "Sample, you have the final say!" ”

The auction began mainly with Western oil paintings, which were not too valuable, and Li Mobai was very bold in winning 3 oil paintings and 2 sculptures in a row at a fixed price, spending a total of 2.1 million pounds.

Although the value is not too high, but it is also quite shocking to the audience, shocked Li Mobai's toughness, directly killed the competitors at a price, and even more shocking is that this Chinese kid did not go to grab porcelain, but came to grab oil paintings and sculptures, for a while I couldn't figure out Li Mobai's hole cards, but I felt Li Mobai's strong attack power.

Li Mobai is to create momentum, giving people a momentum that is bound to win, so that the opponent can't help but feel that he will win at all costs when bidding, and first form a psychological advantage.

Of course, this also has disadvantages, if someone also deliberately disrupts the situation, Li Mobai will suffer, but Li Mobai has the element of disrupting the situation, and the bidding opponent does not know when Li Mobai will let go, so there is not much harm for Li Mobai.

"Big bad, are you trying to build momentum for that drawing five women with no clothes on?" Seeing Li Mobai struck again and again, he guessed Li Mobai's thoughts.

Li Mobai reached out to hold Jiang Xuhan's little hand, "Even if they don't have clothes, they don't look as good as my baby in clothes!" ”

"Hmph, you're saying I don't look good without clothes!" Jiang Suhan said angrily when he heard this.

…………

"Luis, what's the way to find out where that Chinese kid at No. 47 came from?" The auction was still going on, and the situation on Li Mobai's side was also noticed in a VIP room next to it.

"His name is Li, and he is a frequent customer of the auction house, but in the past, he did not sell as often as he does today, and the amount was not as high as it is today. Fresh out of King's College, Cambridge, he has a strong background in China and specializes in antiques appreciation. A middle-aged man next to him entered Li Mobai's good cards from the computer database, and Li Mobai's information soon appeared on the computer screen.

"Okay, let's focus on it later." When the man who began to speak heard this, he commanded.

At this time, the outside auction has also reached the first level, and Sanyu's works have been heavily recommended by the auctioneer, but the starting price of 3 million pounds does make the buyers who hold signs in the venue and the telephone buyers outside the venue quite shocked, after all, Sanyu is an Oriental, but in the eyes of Westerners, it is not a worthy investment.

Li Mobai is not in a hurry to meet the price, it is not worth exposing himself at this time, although he has successfully built momentum just now, but who knows how many poets are coveting this painting.

At this time, a Western big nose raised the number plate to meet the price, and the price was 3.1 million. Li Mobai knew that this person should be the auction house's own childcare, purely to set off the atmosphere.

As soon as the price of this person came out, another big nose followed the offer of 3.2 million, Li Mobai knew that this was still the childcare of the auction house, and said in his heart, You finally can't help but make a move, and see how confident you are.

"4 million!" At this moment, someone outside the venue called to make a bid, and he made an extraordinary move.

(To be continued)