Huayu since 1980

Chapter 523 A Collection of $5600 Million

"Iris" is known as "one of the greatest works of Van Gogh in Saint Remy period".

It can attract people's attention from afar, with rich colors, delicate and changeable lines, and the whole picture is full of rhythmic and harmonious beauty, full of fresh atmosphere and vitality.

Irises, like sunflowers, were originally ordinary plants, but Van Gogh endowed them with wonderful images, colors and eternal vitality. The longing for life seems to be a silent confide in the heart of a lonely dancer in the dark. The irises he painted are bright and lovely, but also a little sad, a little lonely and uneasy, and even have a posture that is almost struggling.

The painter Vincent van Gogh also expressed a fresh, overflowing and energetic atmosphere in his oil paintings.

This is the auctioneer's introduction to "Iris". In fact, there is no need for his introduction. Everyone present has already mobilized all their emotions. It can be said that almost half of the collectors who came here this time are for this painting. They were painted. During this period, although Chinese antiques have gradually become popular in Europe and the United States, the mainstream market for antiques is still the oil paintings of these European painters.

As one of the top painters in Europe, Van Gogh's "Iris", one of his greatest works, has naturally attracted everyone's attention.

So when the auctioneer called out the starting price of 1000 million US dollars, the collectors in the audience couldn't wait to call out the price in their minds.

In less than 10 minutes, "Iris" with a starting price of 1000 million has been called up to 2500 million!
At this time, the bidders were not as enthusiastic as before, but there were still several collectors bidding against each other, and Johnson was acting as Wu Jianye's commentator at this time.

"Is that short Asian in clothes? He is a son of the RB Mitsui family. The blonde woman over there is the only princess of the Gambino family in Italy. And that middle-aged man is from the Rockefeller family. The last one with the glasses is Richard Meier, the director of the Paul Getty Foundation!"

Wu Jianye nodded and said, "It means that every one of them is richer than you!"

Johnson: "."

It is okay to say that every family is richer than the Johnson family, but it is not necessarily true that each of them is richer than the Johnson family.

However, no one would know the real wealth they controlled in a family with such a profound heritage.

Even the man named Richard Meyer, who seems to be just the manager of a foundation, has more than 30 billion US dollars in funds under his control!
And Paul Getty, who founded the Paul Getty Foundation, once occupied the world's richest man list for 20 years!
Before the Arabian oil field was privately owned, the owner of the Arabian oil field was Paul Getty. In 1957, Paul Getty's wealth had reached 10 billion US dollars!
And at this time, Wu Jianye was just born.

Although he is the richest man, Paul Getty's miserliness is also world-famous. He is known as the reality version of Grandet in that era. After the billionaire bought Sutton Manor, he withdrew the Of all the outside telephones, only one coin telephone is installed on the ground floor for visitors and servants.

Even so, Getty Sr. often complained that the workers were stealing the phone, so he put a lock on it.

He always only pays for his own meal when he eats out; he claims to leave an inheritance to his 100 lovers, but amends his will as many as 25 times, and the money he finally gave to his lovers makes people feel angry and humiliated; The pastor who presided over his funeral did not receive the payment he had promised until the end.
This master is not only stingy with outsiders, but also with his own family. After he passed away, he left his family an inheritance of only 500 US dollars, which is 500 US dollars, and there is no million behind!

Later generations of Hollywood once filmed a movie "The World of Money", which was shot based on Paul Getty, and the events that happened in it were also real events.

His grandson was kidnapped. The kidnapper demanded a ransom of 1700 million, but Paul Getty refused on the spot, and believed that his grandson was collaborating with the kidnapper to defraud him of his funds.

I also have 14 grandchildren, all 14 of whom will be kidnapped if I pay a penny.

This is Paul Getty's answer.

Later, he received the ears of his grandson sent by the kidnappers, and he agreed to redeem his grandson with a ransom of 400 million US dollars.

But when it was time to pay the ransom, Paul Getty's stingy character broke out again, and he negotiated with the kidnappers by phone, and finally reached 320 million US dollars.

This is not over yet, in the end Paul Getty only took out 220 million US dollars, and the remaining 100 million was loaned to his son by himself.
This is considered to be in exchange for his grandson.

Paul Getty, who is so stingy, also has a generous place, that is, he is paranoid about the collection of artworks. In this regard, he has never been stingy with his own funds. Even after his death, he left all his funds to Paul Getty At the same time, he also built the Paul Getty Museum and announced that the Paul Getty Museum will always be open to visitors for free.

And the fund he left is to take care of this Paul Getty Museum.

"2800 million US dollars!" At this moment, the princess of the Gambino family raised her placard again!
"3000 million U.S. dollars!" The son of the Mitsui family also held up a sign at this time. The big RB is now waving dollar bills, showing their financial resources all over the world, and buying famous paintings is a major manifestation of their financial resources. .

Next year, RB's second largest paper maker, Daishowa Paper, will shock the world by buying Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gasher" at a price of US$8250 million, breaking the record for the most expensive art auction at that time.

It was the Rockefeller family who gave up the auction of "Iris" first, but he didn't see any expression of anger on his face, but shook his head with a wry smile.

For them, "Iris" was a rare masterpiece, but it did not bring much benefit to the Rockefeller family, so they were the first to give up.

Then came the princess of the Gambino family, the son of the Mitsui family, and Richard Meyer.

And the bidding price is getting higher and higher, even reaching a staggering level.

When the eldest son of the Mitsui family raised the price to 4500 million U.S. dollars, the princess of the Gambino family also gave up the price. Obviously, the next step is not in the interests of their family.

As one of the most prestigious HEI families in Italy, the Gambino family bought this painting back, not just for collection.

At this time, the collectors in the hall also believed that this "Iris" would eventually be produced among the remaining two.

In fact, this is indeed the case. At this time, the two parties have already called the price to 5000 million U.S. dollars!
"5100 million!" Richard Meyer was sitting there, with his legs crossed, his left hand lightly placed on his knee, and his right hand holding the card, ready to raise the card again at any time. Let Wu Jianye sigh.

"Sure enough, it wasn't my own money that was spent!"

Johnson: "."

Then the legitimate son of the Mitsui family held up a sign: "5200 million!"

"5300 million!" Richard Meier then raised his placard.

Whoa! ! ! ! !
Everyone was surprised again, no one thought that this painting would fetch such a high price today.

Johnson said on the side: "It seems that this "Iris" will fall into the hands of Richard Meyer this time, but that's good, this painting is placed in the Paul Getty Museum, so that more people can enjoy it." Appreciate the painting."

After finishing speaking, he glanced at Wu Jianye and said, "Wu, I admit that your Chinese civilization has a long history, but this painting is enough to make many Chinese antiques sigh."

Wu Jianye smiled and said, "Then how many Chinese antiques do you think this painting can exchange for?"

Johnson didn't understand what Wu Jianye meant.

But after he saw Wu Jianye's actions, he understood.

"5400 million!" Just as the auctioneer was about to drop the hammer, Wu Jianye raised his placard, and following Wu Jianye's bid, everyone in the hall was shocked. See you at night.

Isn't he just a singer?Even if his album sells for money, $5400 million is probably more than 90% of his total income, right?Daniel Lewis thought in shock.

But at this time, Wu Jianye also managed to bring everyone's attention to him.

Daniel Lewis looked at Wu Jianye in shock. He just wanted to break his head, but he didn't understand that Wu Jianye would bid.

And those who just bid with Richard Meyer also looked at Wu Jianye with great interest at this time.

At this time, Wu Jianye had raised a huge question mark in their hearts.

Richard Meyer also glanced at Wu Jianye suspiciously. Although he has always looked calm, he knows his own affairs. Although he is in charge of the entire Paul Getty Foundation, it is impossible for him to He used the funds inside to buy famous paintings. For him, 5300 million was already close to the limit.

If it exceeds the price in the foundation's heart, it is estimated that the foundation will find trouble for itself.

"5500 million!" Fortunately, the price has not yet reached the foundation's heart, and he can continue to bid, but there are not many opportunities left for him. If the Asian raises the price again, he can only compete with this artwork. say goodbye

Wu Jianye raised a placard with a smile on his face: "5600 million!"

"Are you crazy? Do you have so much money?" At this time, Johnson felt that he was going crazy. Why did Wu Jianye increase the price so much? Isn't he worried that if there is no way to pay the funds later, he will To be the laughing stock of the whole world?

Wu Jianye smiled and said, "How about it, can I consider my investment in your family's theater company now? I told you, money has never been a problem!"

Johnson was shocked: "You just want to prove your financial resources to me, and then you are going to buy this painting?"

"Of course!"

Of course not, Wu Jianye wasn't being taken advantage of, of course he couldn't have decided to take this painting just to prove his financial strength to Johnson.

First of all, the value of this painting will definitely increase in the future, and it will increase exponentially, so Wu Jianye is not worried at all that this painting will fall into his own hands.

At the same time, Wu Jianye also has his own ideas. He doesn't know much about Chinese antiques, let alone foreign oil paintings. In his opinion, this "Iris" is nothing more than that.

What he was interested in was what Johnson said just now. In the eyes of Europeans, the value of this painting far exceeds that of Chinese antiques, and most of the treasures of Chinese antiques are in the hands of these collectors. Rely on "Iris" in exchange for the Chinese antiques you want!

Of course, even if he didn't find the barter antique he wanted in the end, the "Iris", which was regarded as a god by the Europeans, was photographed by the Chinese. It's actually quite exciting to think about it!
At this moment, Richard Meyer, who had always been calm and determined to win, finally shook his head with a wry smile, and gave up bidding again.

And the most precious lot "Iris" in Sotheby's spring auction was bought by Wu Jianye for 5600 million US dollars!

This set a historical record for Chinese auctions!
The audience burst into applause. As the auction ended, Wu Jianye, who was the most dazzling in this auction, was naturally surrounded by many people.

For example, the few people who participated in the auction before came to Wu Jianye at this time.

The princess of the Gambino family wore a long black dress and said with a smile: "Hi, I'm Esther Gambino, and I'm very happy to be able to participate in this auction with a mysterious director today! "

Obviously, when she came here just now, someone had already introduced Wu Jianye to her.

"Hello, I'm also very happy to meet Miss Esther!" Wu Jianye shook hands with Esther Gambino.

Others also shook hands with Wu Jianye one after another. It was impossible for Wu Jianye to catch their eyes before that. After all, Wu Jianye was just a Chinese director. Even if he was a world-renowned rock singer, at their level, it was impossible. Give Wu Jianye more respect, but it's different now.

Wu Jianye spent 5600 million US dollars to buy this "Iris" by Van Gogh, which shows that Wu Jianye's financial resources are not inferior to any of them present.

This "Iris" is equivalent to an entry ticket for Wu Jianye to enter the top European circle!

Daniel Lewis watched from a distance where Wu Jianye was talking and laughing happily with many big men who he could only look up to, with a complicated expression on his face.

He found that ever since he met Wu Jianye, he had been crushed in all directions. Now, even in terms of his most confident financial resources, he knew that he and Wu Jianye were not at the same level at all.

All his net worth added up is less than 1 million U.S. dollars, but Wu Jianye can actually spend 5600 million U.S. dollars now. The photo of "Irises" has proved a lot of things.

At this moment, looking at the circle that Wu Jianye was in, it was a circle that he couldn't get into no matter how hard he tried.
But what Daniel Lewis didn't know was that his disaster was not over yet. He had already said that Wu Jianye was a vengeful master. He ignored Daniel Lewis many times before, but it was just that Wu Jianye didn't think he was high enough. .

Now that Wu Jianye has accepted his trick, it is impossible to let him go so easily!
(End of this chapter)