Dream Guide

This is a peculiar painting.

The picture has bright colors, direct writing, and bright lines outline the graceful figure of a young girl. The girl was lying on a bright red sofa with her head tilted. Her face was split in half, and a black line connected her nose and mouth from the background above her forehead.

If you look carefully, you will find that it is a combination of half the side face and half the front face. This combination gives the picture a certain three-dimensional feel, which is also a commonly used technique by Picasso.

The strangest thing is the girl's hand. No matter judging from the color, fatness or shape, it is obvious that it is not the hand of a person. What's even more interesting is that each of her hands has six fingers.

"I bought this painting from the United States for Christmas last year." Xia Wenyuan didn't know why Aoki suddenly asked this, but after he came out of the dream, he already trusted Aoki quite a bit, "I have hung it here since I bought it. .”

Aoki came closer to the painting, and the tip of his nose almost touched the paint. Generally speaking, it is very impolite to appreciate paintings in this way, and it is easy to damage the painting. Even if it is not touched, the moisture exhaled from the mouth can also cause serious damage to the oil painting that is difficult to preserve.

Wu Lixia knew that Xia Wenyuan loved this painting very much, and reminded her tactfully: "This painting cost 150 million US dollars, and it should not have been hung directly on the wall like this."

"Oh, I understand." Aoki stood a little further away from the painting, but still looked worried that he might knock the paint off the painting at any time, "You must like this painting very much."

"Of course." Xia Wenyuan said, "I don't need to earn the difference by investing in art. If I didn't really like it, I wouldn't spend so much money to buy an oil painting and hang it in my study to look at it every day."

"Can you tell me why you like this painting so much? It can be seen from the style and collection of books in the study that you still prefer Eastern aesthetics. If the oil painting downstairs is meant to match the fireplace, then the one in your study Oil paintings are so weird." Aoki asked.

"Sir, you have a keen eye! It turns out that this painting is destined for me."

Xia Wenyuan praised Aoki and then talked about his process of buying paintings.

"Last year I was invited to the United States to participate in a charity auction. At the VIP preview before the auction, I saw this painting "The Dream" by Picasso. To be honest, I know very little about Western art and rarely collect related collections. . But I fell in love with this painting the first time I saw it. It has a very familiar feeling to me, as if I have seen it before somewhere.”

"You must have seen pictures of such a famous painting on the Internet or elsewhere!" Aoki said.

Xia Wenyuan said: "No, it's not that kind of familiarity, it's a feeling of 'long absence', like meeting a long-lost relative."

Aoki suddenly remembered the hourglass symbol of time. At that time, he felt like "it's been a long time", so he could understand Xia Wenyuan's feelings. But he can be sure that he is inextricably linked to that symbol, and what does Xia Wenyuan have to do with a famous oil painting?

It’s impossible to see a painting for no reason and then “have not seen it for a long time”!

"And you bought it?"

"Of course not." Xia Wenyuan said, "I am a businessman, and I will not buy a piece of art worth over 100 million U.S. dollars because of a temporary emotional impulse that I don't really appreciate. You have to know that 100 million U.S. dollars You can invest in a pretty good Hollywood movie, and if you use it to support young people in your family, you can establish more than ten start-up companies."

Aoki has no idea about money, especially U.S. dollars, but he can still do simple arithmetic problems. What is $100 million? It is the income that a taxi driver can earn by driving continuously for five thousand years; it is the price that Ruhua can sell for making ten million cocktails behind the bar; even those painted and painted people in the unknown alleys at the entrance of Liuying Alley A woman runs a business with no capital, even if she receives thirty men every day, she would have to work for five hundred years to make a profit.

"Then what prompted you to buy it?" Aoki asked.

Xia Wenyuan said: "You know that fate is a wonderful thing. At that time, I only had a small fluctuation in my heart and had no intention of bidding at the auction. But at the cocktail party that night, Ronald Cohen, Chairman of the Dream Foundation , that is, the owner of this painting happened to be sitting next to me. He introduced the ins and outs of this painting to me in detail, and then I realized how much this painting is destined to me."

"I was born in 1932, and this painting was created by Mr. Picasso in 1932. That year, my mother gave birth to me during the war. This may be a coincidence, but there are even more coincidences. Picasso This painting depicts his lover Teresa. He should have painted many portraits of Theresa, but only this one is the most perfect."

"In 1927, they met at the train station. Picasso was thirty years older than Teresa. My father and my mother also met in 1927, and there was also a thirty-year age difference between them. At that time, my father was Silk Road. I am a businessman with a well-off family and a good reputation. My mother was a student at the National University. She was injured by the military police who suppressed a student demonstration. My father saved her, and that’s how I became. I was born That year, the Songhu Anti-Japanese War broke out. My father went to the front line with the supplies he raised to support, but unfortunately disappeared in the war. My mother became sick with worry and could not afford to fall ill. When my father came back, her grave was The evergreens are already in bloom.”

"Cohen heard my story and said this painting was meant for me. He suggested that I buy the painting. As a sign of respect for my father and mother, he was willing to sell it to me at a very favorable price. It is known that he bought the painting from Las Vegas tycoon Michael Jones for $155 million, and the price he offered me that day was only five cents more than the original price. One million U.S. dollars."

"Although so many coincidences make my heart beat, and the price is fair enough, I still won't buy it. As a qualified family manager, every decision I make may affect the fate of the family, so I must exercise full restraint My own inflated desires, even if this business doesn’t seem to be a loss.”

"It wasn't until after the dinner that Mr. Cohen invited me to look at the painting up close again, that I finally knew where the 'deja vu' feeling I felt when I first saw it came from - the girl in this painting The pose was exactly the same as a photo my daughter had taken."

"The more I looked at her, the more I thought she looked like my daughter Xiaoxiao. I even had an idea in my mind - she is my daughter, and this painting was painted by the artist for my daughter."

"So, I made up my mind to buy the painting. I asked Cohen to sell the painting to me. I thought he would take the opportunity to offer a high price. Unexpectedly, after he heard about my daughter, he readily offered me the painting. I dropped another five million dollars.”

"Excuse me," Aoki said, feeling that these coincidences were too bizarre. "Can you show me the photo of your daughter?"

Xia Wenyuan seemed a little hesitant, looked at Wu Lixia, and then nodded.

Wu Lixia took out a photo album from a drawer on the desk and took out a photo.

In the photo, a beautiful young woman is leaning on a red sofa with her eyes closed. She is indeed somewhat similar to the oil painting on the wall.

Aoki looked at the photo, scratching his messy hair, his face was embarrassed, and his expression looked a little strange: Isn't this a beautiful young mother?

"Excuse me, where is your daughter now?"

Xia Wenyuan suddenly looked sad: "Xiao Xiao passed away five years ago."

Thanks to Kong Mo Mei and L Di Hua Zhi Xiu for the reward.