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

Located in the middle of the building's four floors, the vault is about 100 square meters in size, and is divided into six separate vaults, each with its own combination lock.

Only old Mike could enter this vault, not even Robert, the painter he had hired to preside over the daily work of the gallery, so when old Mike entered, he opened all six small vaults one by one.

These small vaults are full of paintings, some of which are hung on the walls and some are placed on special easels, and one vault can hold about twenty or so oil paintings.

"Cole, do you know why I'm putting these paintings here and not worrying about them? Because these paintings are not famous paintings, and not only were the prices low when they were acquired, but I thought these words were investment-oriented, so on the one hand, these paintings were for collection, and on the other hand, they could be considered investments. Old Mike pointed to the paintings.

"Actually, I thought it would be a good investment to invest in oil painting, so I started experimenting, and it looked good. Well, look at this painting, this is a painting by John Patrick O'Brien, he created it in 1987, and I bought it in 1990 for 120,000 dollars. As a result, O'Brien's fame has risen in recent years, and his work is full of 'modern romantic realism' interest, and is now widely collected by many private individuals in the Commonwealth and Europe. If this painting is auctioned now, the starting price will be more than $800,000, and it is not uncommon for people who like this painting to fetch millions of dollars. In just six years, my investment has increased sevenfold, which is a good investment, right?"

Yang Jing nodded, "Mike, what you said is right, in recent years, with the recovery of the federal economy and the rise of the IT industry, a large number of millionaires, tens of millions or even billionaires have been created, so in recent years, the collection industry has begun to become popular, whether it is oil paintings or other works of art, it is actually a good time to invest." ”

Old Mike nodded with a smile, and the boss's praise obviously made him very proud.

Of course, he will not use these paintings as an investment, although these paintings are all bought by him, but it is the boss in front of him who pays for them. With the boss's net worth, plucking a hair at will is worth a hundred times more than the paintings in this room combined.

Therefore, these paintings are mainly used for collections.

Although the value of these paintings is not very high, Yang Jing also looks at them with relish.

He himself is not very proficient in Western painting, but now there are so many works of modern painters in front of him, which is enough to increase his understanding of Western painting a lot.

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

Although this still life oil painting is still a little immature, there is already a trace of master's charm between the structures, and it is estimated that it is 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, took out his reading glasses and put them on, then looked at the work and said: "This is a painting of a young painter of the Federation that only came out a few years ago, this painter is called David Lefehr, although his still life oil painting is still a little immature, but it is full of charm and has a Rembrandt style." I bought it the year before last for $30,000, but I think that if Lefeel had been given some time, he would have been able to soar. ”

Yang Jing agreed, Yang Jing could see the charm contained in this painting, as old Mike judged, as long as this young painter can persevere in his efforts, then it is definitely only a matter of time before he becomes famous.

Yang Jing's judgment is really correct, if he goes back to the original time and space to check this David Lefehr, then he can know that this David Lefeel became famous after entering the new century, and is known as the "modern Rembrandt".

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

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

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

"Mike, this is Norman Rockwell's work, where did you get it?" Seeing these three works in front of him, Yang Jing was really surprised.

"Haha, I'll let you find it. How's that going, that's a nice surprise, isn't it?" asked Old Mike with a smile on his face.

"I was really surprised, I didn't expect you to be able to buy Rockwell's work...... Well, I'll see, Christ Jesus, are all three paintings from before Rockwell 1943?"

"Bingo! Cole, you're right, these three works were indeed made by Rockwell before 1943, and I was lucky enough to see them at a friend's place, and I bought them for $2.1 million. Well, it was this deal that was done the night before yesterday, and I called you over today, mainly to surprise you. ”

"Mike, this surprise is indeed big enough. But weren't all of Rockwell's works before 1943 burned down because his studio caught fire that year?

Old Mike shook his head and said, "The fire of 1943 did not burn all the works in Rockwell's studio, and a small part was salvaged, and these three paintings survived that fire." ”

Yang Jing shook his head slightly in disbelief, "Two million US dollars, three paintings, not expensive, not expensive! Mike, this deal you made is a very good deal." ”

Old Mike also shook his head slightly, "Cole, it's not a good deal, 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 was only 1996, and Rockwell's paintings were indeed not very valuable in this era, and he was just substituting the price twenty years later into this era.

The American modernizer Yang Jing is not familiar with much, but Norman Rockwell is one of the few American painters that Yang Jing is familiar with, because when he was in London, he happened to see Rockwell's extremely famous "Self-Portrait of Three People" when he visited the British Museum, Yang Jing was very interested in this painting at that time, and after he went back, he checked the information of Norman Rockwell, so he was very familiar with Rockwell's paintings.

In 1973, the "Gallup Poll" in the United States once asked such a question about the national poll: "Who do you think is the most outstanding contemporary painter?" As a result, 82% of the respondents regarded Norman Rockwell as the most outstanding contemporary painter, saying that he was the recorder of the times in the United States.

In an interview, the American "Illustrated Housework" once asked Rosalyn Carter, the wife of US President Carter, "What is your favorite picture?" and the president's wife replied: "Norman Rockwell's "The Little Girl in the Mirror". The girl in the picture bathed deeply and touched me deeply. Children sometimes yearn for adulthood, just like our Amy. ”

Born in 1894, he became an illustrator from the age of 16 until he was 82 years old, and was once praised by the New York Times as "the most popular artist of the century."

Rockwell's work chronicles the development and change of the United States in the twentieth century: from a barefoot boy on a hot summer day to an astronaut on the moon, from a lazy town-town storefront to a skyscraper office, from a colorful fairy tale book to a glittering television screen...... His work covers not only 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 the themes of presidents from Kennedy to Carter, movie stars, and the Boy Scouts. However, Rockwell's favorite subject is a calm and innocent child.

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

But, many people who have seen Rockwell's original say that this is not the case. The originals of his oil paintings are finely colored and the brushes are varied. They said, "You can't tell from the print how good he paints." From his early years, when he painted, he always pasted a note with "100%" on the top of the canvas to remind himself that every painting should be put on with 100% energy.

Perhaps it was because of this earnestness and hard work that Rockwell became "the most popular American artist of the century."

In fact, Rockwell's works did not explode until after the new century, and before the new century, his works were not of very high value, except for a few limited works.

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

On December 4, 2013, at Sotheby's New York held a special auction of American art, Rockwell's 1951 work "Prayer", estimated at $5 million to $20 million, but after fierce competition among buyers, it was finally sold for an incredible $46 million, setting a new record for Rockwell's work at auction.

In "Prayer," the little boy with his head bared and his well-groomed grandmother are in a dilapidated restaurant next to the train station, bowing their heads and praying to God for the food on the table. The two young men at the same table with them, one holding a cigarette butt in his finger and the other biting a cigarette from the corner of his mouth, looked at them eagerly.

And in this auction, the finale was another of Rockwell's 1948 paintings, "Spreading Rumors", also known as "The Gossip", which eventually sold for a whopping $85 million!

The painting "Spreading Rumors" was brewed by Rockwell for thirteen years. He had previously painted on the subject, and the 1948 version began with just two gossips, grew to ten, and finally developed into a vivid painting of fifteen different figures. According to Rockwell, the men in the painting were his neighbors in Arlington, and he put himself and his wife, Mary, in it to avoid suspicion that he was insulting his 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 author of these rumors.

In addition, Rockwell's "Walking to the Church," painted in 1952, sold for $33 million, and his other painting, "Leaving Home," sold for more than $15.4 million.

In any case, these works, which have sold more than eight figures, are the works of Rockwell after his studio caught fire, and the previous works have never appeared on the market.

And now, there are three works by Rockwell before 1943 at once, which is a very unexpected surprise!

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

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