"Whoever becomes the next post-war realist watercolorist will take ownership of the painting? Sounds like a pretty interesting convention. It's worth a lot of money. ”

Gu Weijing commented.

For reasons such as tax avoidance, asset preservation, etc.

Privately engage in physical exchange between art collections and pawnshop transactions, or give physical objects as gifts.

It is illegal to do so in some states in the United States, but it is not uncommon for it to be practiced privately in continental Europe or by groups of collectors.

Menzel is similar to Lang Shining, both of whom belong to the artists whose collections are collected by the National Sovereign Gallery and have an orderly heritage.

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

The collection of such court painters is small in number, and each one fetches a lot of money.

If it was really the same as he had guessed.

This is indeed a very generous patronage of the arts.

Painters will go crazy for art exhibitions, and it must be because participating in art exhibitions can bring very rich material gains.

However, this kind of harvest mainly comes from the increase in value and the nature of the art exhibition itself, not because the prize money of the art exhibition is so attractive.

Most of the developments give the winners little prize money.

$50,000 is already high.

In particular, for some long-established exhibitions and art salons, the prize money is many, many times and only once every year.

When it was established in 1900, the maximum prize money awarded to the winners by the organizing committee was set at around $2,500.

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

Until now, I can't even afford a better Apple notebook.

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

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

If you want to be worth a Rolls-Royce in the forties, how to conservatively estimate it now, two new Rolls-Royces should also be there.

Now the most valuable watercolor master, even if Turner, Venice Watercolor Festival, Detail Watercolor Award, Barcelona Watercolor Award and other awards have all been won, he will never dare to say that one of his watercolor paintings can be more valuable than Mencaier's.

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

It's just that......

Gu Weijing was a little curious.

A bet with such a large stakes is no child's play.

So how are the two art giants who are the watercolor masters of their realistic style?

What is "realistic" and what is "famous"?

Even though the post-war art landscape, as President Miller said, became more and more fictional, and more and more focused on creative forms 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 report ten or eight names, and there is still no difficulty.

Gu Weijing has never heard of a certain art media report that this big pie fell on the head of a lucky watercolor painter.

He had only heard of the bet for the first time, even today.

Odd?

Such a big reward should be in line with common sense when the media spotlight shines on it all day long.

"If that's half the bet, it's one of the most talked-about art awards today. Gu, only a few Hamburg local artists have heard of the reason for this bet. It's not that the stakes aren't big enough, it's just too big, a little too big. ”

"Too big?"

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 KICH feel a headache now, and "Berlin Royal Palace" is most likely not qualified to do so.

Menzel's work is, of course, an excellent art collection.

Don't talk about the technique and talk about the value.

Menzel's attention is at most similar to that of Rearno, worse than Monet and Turner, and even less so than Leonardo da Vinci or Van Gogh.

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

At auction, it should be hundreds of thousands of dollars larger.

It's a huge amount of money for ordinary people, but it doesn't matter if it's an old rich family like the Yelena family, or a top art association like KICH.

Who really cares?

His instincts told him.

That must be something outrageously expensive.

"Don't worry, listen to what I said, I said that this is a bet between the Elaine family and KICH, since it is a bet, naturally only one party can bid. You haven't listened to the old chairman's promise. ”

The other side of the bet offered more precious chips. Compared to it, the work of a German national treasure painter is only a drop in the bucket. ”

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

The sketch teacher, who had been shocked by the students' ability to draw all afternoon, had the vanity in his chest satisfied.

Only then did he clear his throat, cough twice, and said slowly.

After the war, the chairman of the board of directors was enlisting representatives of the Austrian National Publishing Group, art institutions of all fronts, to join the management of the magazine Oil Painting. He hopes to single-handedly turn the family magazine founded by his grandfather into an authoritative, multifaceted, and biblical, authoritative guide to the field of art criticism. ”

"And he is at the helm of this artistic aircraft carrier."

"To put it bluntly, a few years ago, Larry Gagosian, the godfather of art, wanted to do what he wanted to do. Half a century ago, the other party had already built a prototype. ”

"In exchange for the Berlin Palace, the chairman of the board of directors took out 2,000 shares of the magazine."

"At the exchange rate of depreciation during the Allied occupation at the time, the share was valued at around 2,100 Reichsmarks in previous transactions. The stake is only a small part of the magazine, and it adds up to almost the same as a piece of Menzel watercolor. ”

"The two sides exchange each other."

"The chairman got a masterpiece that he had been thinking about. The Hamburg Kunsthalle, on the other hand, became a representative of the German art world with its shares, and became part of the board of directors and management of the magazine "Oil Painting". ”

"It has washed away the background of the Third Reich and laid down the burden of history. The two organizations can join forces 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 encouragement of the two predecessors to the German painters——"

Wattle took a deep breath and said this sky-high bet from seventy years ago.

"Within a century of the start of the contract, the watercolor brushwork of KICH members, 'Who can carve a crater on the moon on a peanut shell?' watercolor brushwork won the top prizes in one year, the annual exhibition of the Hamburg Artists Association, the Cologne Art Exhibition, and the Kassel Documenta, which was also in the works at the time, with the aim of getting rid of the cultural imprint of Germany in World War II. ’”

"Then, he will automatically take ownership of the Berlin Royal Palace from the Yelena family. On the other hand, KICH will pay a sum of money equivalent to the shares of Oil Painting magazine that he has given to him as the artist's creative funds. And regardless of the value of the shares at the time, whether or not the magazine "Oil Painting" still existed. The creative fund shall not be less than 4,000,000 Reichsmarks or its equivalent in pounds sterling. ”

Two thousand original shares of Oil Painting magazine in 1946?

When Gu Weijing realized.

When the chairman of the board of directors used such valuable things for betting, he couldn't help but shudder slightly.

Maybe......

Seventy years ago, the stake in Oil Painting magazine was nothing.

Two thousand shares is about the same as a watercolor of Menzel's landscape, and in the eyes of the world, it is a very normal equivalent exchange.

Bet!

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

Although Oil Painting Magazine was already an old literary journal before World War II, it was still attached to the Elena family at that time.

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

When you make a bet.

The chairman of the board of directors was obviously worried that the magazine's valuation would depreciate too much in the future changes, or that "Oil Painting" would simply close down because of poor management.

Later generations looked back on the scriptures, and obviously did not have to worry about the poor operation of the oil painting magazine.

He hated the magazine though.

But...... He also knows that this may be one of the most commercially valuable paper media outlets today.

Holding Menzel's paintings would make investors feel good, at least outperforming inflation and not shrinking the family's fortunes.

The original stock that held the "Oil Painting" magazine, the rate of appreciation is so refreshing that it wants to take off.

In the hands of the old chairman, the magazine was just a media for entertainment and recreation.

The political significance is far greater than the monetary significance, and it is only an insignificant part of the composition of his property.

2,000 shares were exchanged for KIH, and a painting of "Berlin Royal Palace" was returned.

It's a good deal.

Most of the shares sold to the Austrian National Publishing Group and the European Fine Arts Association were sold for a symbolic amount of one shilling.

No one could have imagined.

Seventy years have passed, and the fruit picked in the Yelena family's orchard has become a golden apple for the muse.

Even if Miss Anna herself considered putting up for sale her major properties in South America and Australia, she would not be able to buy back a third of the magazine's shares from the board of directors with all the liquidity reserves she could muster.

After the war, 4 million Deutsche marks was about 20,000 pounds.

Until now.

Probably more than a million.

"Guess what a lot of money this is today, when the Hamburg Art Society owned the magazine?" Wattle couldn't help but boast in a tone that described the treasure of the Golden King Solomon.

The sketch teacher slapped his left hand and then put the index finger of his right hand next to him.

"One of my high school professors, who happened to be members of the Hamburg Artists Association, was worth six million pounds back when I went to school and heard this story, so he called it the 'Moon and Six Million Pounds' bet of the century."

Gu Weijing was not only amazed by the appreciation speed of the shares of Oil Painting Magazine, but also sighed that this was really an astronomical bonus.

£6,000,000 in creative funding.

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

That's the price when Professor Wattel was in school.

In recent years, "Oil Painting" has moved in the financial market, and it is estimated that it will more than double by one or two times.

It is no secret that before the restructuring, the Hamburg Artists Association was the third largest shareholder of Oil Painting magazine, after the Austrian government and the European Art Association, and enjoyed a seat on the board of directors. It is marked on the official website of Oil Painting magazine. ”

"For the first 10 years, both sides saw it as a mere incentive bet. Every painter who joins KICH will be told that this reward is agreed. Soon, when KICH suddenly discovered that the shares of "Oil Painting" held in his hand had suddenly become the most important asset of the association, his mentality changed subtly. ”

"The owner doesn't mind giving away a sweet fruit to the hardest working farmer."

"But there's probably no owner who would be so generous as to give away his entire orchard, right?"

"The Elena family is also willing to maintain the overall stability of the "Oil Painting" magazine, so after the death of the old chairman, the two sides almost never mentioned such an agreement again, and even deliberately kept it a secret to control the spread of the news.

"Many Hamburg artists have heard similar stories. There are also some tabloids that do not bird the media tabloids of "Oil Painting" magazine, gossiping about this story. But both sides of the bet have been willing to maintain their original clothes over the years and maintain a tacit silence. I don't affirm it, I don't reject it, I don't pay attention to such news at all, and I treat it coldly. ”

Over time, it seems to be like the treasure left by the pirate captain Blackbeard before he was hanged, but not many people believe it from the bottom of their hearts. Except for a very small number of people. ”

Wattle smirked at his nose.

"You're one of those few people?"

Gu Weijing glanced at the German next to him.

He had been attending classes at Dulwich for several years, and he didn't realize that this old-fashioned and square teacher was still a well-informed gossip person like Miss Coco in his hometown.

"Hey, Dulwich teachers, it's a great job for art practitioners."

Wattle noticed Gu Weijing's suspicious eyes, his pride was hit, and he knocked on the table angrily.

"Besides, Wattel is a big name in the Hamburg art scene, and we may not have had any great painters in our family, but since my great-grandfather, he has been a painter in a local church."

"The most important thing about art is interpersonal relationships, and our family is not lacking in Hamburg. That external professor is also a distant cousin in our family. This story was secretly told to me by the other party at the Christmas dinner table back then, and he smiled and asked me to learn watercolor well. He said that he had the opportunity to see the original documents in the safe, and that the bet was genuine. ”

(End of chapter)