The Versatile Master Artist

Chapter 675: Chapter 309: Yesterday’s World_2

If it were last year’s Gu Weijing.

He would most likely, as Chen Shenglin said, be thrilled to see how a single phone call could transform a police officer’s demeanor from arrogant to obsequious and fearful.

But he has witnessed too much this year.

The perspective is different, the structure is different, thinking about problems from different angles, and the final attitude has also changed.

“Because from beginning to end, whether it’s the law, good and evil, right and wrong, all of these are meaningless in such matters. Only the chain of interests plays a role behind the scenes. I’m thinking, if I had just called Brother Hao, I’m afraid the effect would be the same, or maybe even more intimidating.”

“Brother Hao? Is it the person I’m thinking of? In 2014, he bought the West River Clubhouse in Yangon for $236 million. Do you still know him?”

Chen Shenglin interrupted Gu Weijing and asked.

“Do you know him, too?” Gu Weijing’s heart tightened.

“Different industries, not very familiar. But we’ve met; after all, I’m an art collector, probably one of the wealthiest collectors in Yangon. And this Brother Hao holds the richest art resources in this country. It would be strange if we didn’t know each other,” Chen Shenglin said lightly and frankly.

“Once someone acted as an intermediary to sell me a Monet’s Water Lilies, the 87th piece out of the 251 Water Lilies Monet created, ranked second in scale among all the Water Lilies. The last time it appeared in history was in 1986 when an anonymous buyer bought it for 4.6 million francs in Switzerland, and then it disappeared. Now its normal market valuation is between $40 million to $70 million.”

“Back then, the offer made to me was only $9.8 million, but I had to use the payment method specified by the seller, payment in three installments under the guise of company dividends or cash, and only had 36 hours to consider. The seller was this Brother Hao.”

“Truly the legendary Water Lilies.”

Gu Weijing clicked his tongue in wonder.

To this day, high-end art transactions worth tens of millions of dollars are still a distant and vague concept to him.

Monet’s genuine work.

Some top art galleries in Dongxia Magic City and the Capital City can borrow one for exhibition every few months.

But throughout Southeast Asia.

Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia combined, it’s only rumored that within the Thai Royal Family’s private collection worth billions of dollars, they hold one Water Lilies and one Elephant’s Nose.

Brother Hao surprisingly has the power to acquire such things.

Just one piece of such a collection is enough to overshadow the entire Yangon National Art Gallery.

Any art museum within a hundred-kilometer radius with a master’s genuine work of significance.

Faced with the task of “Impressionist Master’s One,” Gu Weijing wouldn’t be tempted to try his luck at the painting and calligraphy exchange market.

Who would have thought.

Possibly right in Yangon.

In the West River Clubhouse, just a half-hour straight-line car ride from their family shop, in some unknown vault, quietly lies a legendary Water Lilies.

In the art circle, this thing is like the Heaven-Swaying Sword and Dragon-slaying Saber, it already holds great symbolic significance.

As long as it’s not met with a supermodel like the Mona Lisa or Along the River During the Qingming Festival, immeasurable national treasures.

Water Lilies is the most prestigious batch of collections in the eyes of collectors.

In the cold market, some cheaper Monet works could be acquired for just a million US Dollars.

But after 2010, Water Lilies became so representative and culturally symbolic, that any well-preserved piece would usually require eight figures.

The piece Brother Hao holds, reportedly ranked second among the over 200 Water Lilies.

If it meets the right auction and buyer, forget about $70 million, nine figures are possible.

“Fake painting? Counterfeit?”

He knows Brother Hao might be one of the largest money launderers in Southeast Asia, or perhaps the owner of the world’s largest art forgery group.

In the music world, there’s been a cold joke circulating for over a hundred years.

The total number of certified million-dollar valued Stradivarius Violins in the world exceeds by 30% the number of violins the master violin maker documented to have made.

In the art world.

All the Monet’s Water Lilies, Sunflowers owned by open and hidden, legal and illegal collectors might exceed the total created by this Impressionist painter, we don’t know.

However, Monet is indeed the master most favored by counterfeit painters worldwide.

Van Gogh and Da Vinci might be more famous, with higher average prices.

The issue is.

These two painters have very few surviving works, and almost every known piece has a clear lineage. If you forge a Mona Lisa and tell a client the one in the Louvre is fake, and the one in your hand is real.

It’s not very convincing.

Similar to the Savior, a painting without an accurate lineage.

Even if a Middle East Prince spent $500 million on it, whether it’s truly a Da Vinci original, the Louvre is still in a public debate with the academia.

Picasso lived too close to the present, also hard to forge.

Monet is different.

This painter is famous, lived long, and the best part is he was prolific, often creating a hundred or so pieces of the same subject.

Many counterfeit painting suppliers rely on copying Monet to make a living, just by fooling a wealthy customer looking for a bargain, and they can eat well for years.

“This price definitely indicates there’s a problem, but I think it’s unlikely to be a fake painting. Not just because unless he’s willing to ruin his reputation, he wouldn’t dare deceive me on a million-dollar level collection, but also because I personally saw that painting, and along with three appraisal experts I flew in from Europe and Japan, we all tend to believe that painting is an original.”