The painting on the wall is not big. Together with the simple small frame, it is only slightly larger than an A4 paper. Fang Yi looked at the work and naturally walked to the front of the work. After looking at it, he turned to the landlady and said: "
Can I take it off and take a look?"
"It's okay! Just take it and look at it if you like." The lady boss looked up at Fang Yi, then immediately lowered her head and continued to tidy her table.
Fang Yi took the work off the wall, took a look at it and returned to the front of the bar: "I haven't seen this work before. When was it hung up?".
"Never before!" The landlady looked at the painting in Fang Yi's hand and said with a smile: "The day before yesterday, a middle-aged wandering painter used this painting to pay off a fifty-six dollar alcohol debt. I really think he is really pregnant.
I only accepted his works when I was penniless!”.
Having said this, he looked at Fang Yi and said with a smile: "If you like it, just give me some money and take it away!".
The proprietress knew that Fang Yi was a great painter and had heard of Fang Yi's reputation as an expert, but she thought she knew a lot about the works hanging in her tavern. Most of the artists in this village, men, women, old and young, had one thing in common.
, that is, they are not good at managing money. To put it bluntly, many people are drunk now and will be hungry the next day!
This tavern also allows credit, but it cannot exceed fifty dollars. If it exceeds the limit, the proprietress will not provide drinks to the person, and he must pay off the credit before he can continue to come in. For most people, fifty dollars is the limit.
The U.S. dollar really doesn’t mean anything, and you can get it by saving money elsewhere. The landlady who knows the details and hasn’t revealed it yet won’t be too harsh. They all live nearby and you can’t see them when you look up. Sometimes people use their own works.
After trying it for a while, the landlady agreed.
Basically, this is how the works on the walls of this tavern came about. Of course, the proprietress thought the same about the works Fang Yi was holding. Most of these works were not even worth half of the fifty dollars!
As for Fang Yi taking a fancy to it, in the opinion of the landlady, Keshma and Artur had also taken a liking to a few of them, so there's nothing strange about this.
"How much do you want to sell it for?" Fang Yi asked the female boss with a smile. Fang Yi didn't want to swallow this work, he just wanted to make a joke with the boss's wife. But if the boss's wife offered an outrageous price,
That Fang Yi wouldn't mind taking this piece of work into his arms, for example, asking for more than a thousand dollars.
The landlady smiled, threw the rag in her hand on the bar, leaned forward and glanced at the paintings on the table: "To round up the whole number, you can just give me sixty dollars!".
Hahaha! Fang Yi immediately laughed after hearing this.
The lady boss felt a little uncomfortable when Fang Yi laughed. She said with a slight anger: "It's really worth fifty-six dollars. I still have an account book here. If you don't believe it, I'll show it to you." After that,
He was ready to lower his head and look through his own account books to find evidence for Fang Yi.
Fang Yi waved his hand to the landlady and said: "Stop looking, I believe you, I just find it interesting. I wonder if you will feel so distressed that you will cry when you hear that I bought this work for sixty dollars!"
”.
"Is this person who bought the painting so famous?" The proprietress looked at Fang Yi and said after hearing this, she thought for a moment and shook her head: "No, if he is so famous, why don't people in the village know him? No
Possible!".
Fang Yi continued jokingly: "If the painter really comes here, I will run home immediately and stay there. This is going to be haunted in broad daylight."
Looking at the blank expression on the landlady's face, Fang Yi continued: "This work was not painted by a debtor, nor can it be bought for sixty dollars. Let alone sixty dollars, it is six hundred thousand dollars."
I’m afraid I won’t be able to buy this work.” After saying that, he pushed the work at hand in front of the landlady: “Keep it well!”.
"You...you...what did you say?" The landlady's face was at a loss when she heard this. Six hundred thousand dollars, six hundred thousand dollars! This number was jumping around in the landlady's mind, even in her mind.
There are too many zeros to count.
Fang Yi looked at the stupid landlady, couldn't help but smile, then turned around from the stool and walked towards the door.
"Mr. Fang, are you sure this painting is worth 600,000 US dollars?" The landlady came to her senses and asked loudly when she saw Fang Yi who had turned around and walked to the door.
Hearing the boss's wife ask him, Fang Yi stopped and turned around with a smile and said: "It's a work by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. According to my guess, the woman in the painting is Marie Clementine Valadon."
.Although the work is a bit small, it is still
I think the fame of the painter and Valadon will be at least one million US dollars! You can keep it and pass it on. If you want to sell it, find a big auction house!" After saying this, Fang Yi smiled and pushed.
Opened the half-blocked door of the tavern and walked out of the tavern.
"What's Luo, what's Ke, what's tile?" The landlady didn't notice that Fang Yi had left, but murmured and repeated what Fang Yi said. Fang Yi suddenly said such a long string of names. How could the landlady say it all at once?
Remember. When I was waiting to ask again, Fang Yi had disappeared.
Fang Yi couldn't say he liked Lautrec's works. If the proprietress asked her to increase the price more than ten times, Fang Yi wouldn't mind selling the work, but she only added a few dollars.
Fang Yi can no longer do it. Now Fang Yi feels that his money is enough and his works are good enough, so there is no need to be too greedy.
Although Fang Yi left, there were still two or three people sitting in a corner of the tavern. They heard all the questions and answers the proprietress and Fang Yi had just asked. They were stunned for a long time and then ran to the bar to look.
Works.
"John, is this work really worth a million dollars?" When the lady boss heard the two young people asking her if she could see the work, she immediately came back to her senses and looked at the two young artists at a loss.
A red-haired young man asked.
The young man named John said: "I can only see the style of Lautrec, and I can't see other things. But since Fang said it, it is almost the same. If the painting is really
As for Suzanne Valadon, there is definitely one million dollars, and if you find a suitable buyer, you will have no problem turning around three or five times.”
Another young man next to him said: "Suzanne Valadon is also a painter, and she dated Lautrec. This female painter used to be a model for many Impressionist masters, and her life was quite dissolute.
, she was only 18 years old and a model when she dated Lautrec. She didn’t really like Lautrec, she just wanted to defraud him of his money! Then she threatened Lautrec by pretending to commit suicide and other means..."
.While looking at the painting, he talked about the dispute between the two artists.
Generally speaking, when she was young, Valadon was a beautiful and charming girl who lived a dissolute life, while Lautrec at that time, to use modern words, was full of mentality. Although he was born in a French aristocratic family, he was ugly.
, because he is the product of inbreeding and has physical defects. Not only is he easily injured, but he is only 1.5 meters tall. If he does not come from a wealthy family, he is really a fighter.
"Don't worry, Mr. Fang's appraisal has not made any mistakes so far. If you feel worried about the product, you can have it appraised." John said while looking at the dazed landlady.
How could the proprietress hear what the two said? Six hundred thousand dollars was originally enough to surprise her as a small bar owner. In less than five minutes, it turned into one million. In these five minutes, I am afraid that the proprietress has never
No one from birth to now has experienced as many ups and downs as I do today.
One million dollars! Ninety-nine percent of families in the United States have little chance of having one million dollars at once. Now the money is right in front of the boss lady, and it is just like a canvas.
The proprietress didn't know what to do. After a lot of effort, she remembered to call her husband, and then left the pub to the waiter. She carried the painting to the backyard, got in the car, and rushed home.
When they got home, the couple couldn't do anything. They just sat in the living room and stared at the painting in front of them in a daze.
Fang Yi didn't know that he threw the painting on the bar, so that the proprietress and her husband not only didn't sleep much all night, but also didn't even eat. They didn't feel hungry at all and waited for the next morning.
The largest auction house in Los Angeles.
When the couple explained their purpose, they were ushered into the appraisal room by the beautiful front desk girl. A middle-aged appraiser and a manager also stood with the couple.
The appraiser wearing gloves looked at the work carefully: "It looks a bit like a work by Lautrec. But I can't be sure yet. A series of tests will be done before we can reach a final conclusion." Something like this
His works have been imitated or copied by countless people. Just looking at the painting style is not enough to judge the authenticity of the work.
"Mr. Yi Fang said this painting is a work by Lautrec," the landlady said immediately after hearing this.
"Yi? Fang? The one who lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles?" the appraiser asked naturally after hearing the client say Fang Yi's name.
Afraid that she wouldn't believe him, the landlady immediately nodded and said, "Yes, I opened a tavern in the Painter's Village, and this painting was originally hung on the wall. It was used by one person to pay off a fifty-six dollar wine debt. Mr. Fang
After taking one look at it, he told me that this was a work by that Lautrec!..."
Hearing what the landlady said, the appraiser couldn't help but sigh, and then lowered his head and looked at the work in his hand. If Fang Yi really said that this was a work by Lautrec, then it's almost the same.
However, the appraiser didn't show it on his face. He chatted with the proprietress and his wife for a few words, and after seeing them off, he said to the manager: "Let's appraise this work first!"
The results, which were supposed to take two to three weeks, came out in a week and a half. Auction house appraisers and some experts confirmed that the work was by Lautrec, and that the figure in the painting was indeed Valadon. Moreover,
According to the client's wishes, the work is placed in the auction house's catalog.
Fang Yi didn't have the heart to care about how the landlady and his family were overjoyed, but he also got some benefits. As long as Fang Yi went to the tavern, he would get a free order. The wine was always full, and the editor's basket was also full of nuts.
It goes without saying that the landlady is very grateful to Fang Yi.
What Fang Yi is concerned about now is that the October exhibition is about to begin, and his works will be exhibited for the first time in several years.