A good investment
There is a certain kind of love, which grazes your heart the first time you encounter it.
Sometimes a painting is like that love.
You are held captive not by it’s physical charms (though they are also important), but by some unfamiliar attraction which has no meaning for anyone else. But for you, it exists - in the way you seek each other for quiet companionship, the way a turn of the head can speak volumes, the way you know a person’s mood without saying a word.
Whatever your amour is doing or not doing, you want to be a part of it, and when they are not around, you want to go on thinking of them.
it is the same with art. When you fall in love with a work of art, it can be as magical and fulfilling as finding true love, in a different way.
Who has not felt that attraction, that sudden tug of the heartstring, that impulse to leave everything and walk an untrodden path?
The very brave or insane ones are able to forsake everything for it. For the rest, it is a lifetime of remembrance, sometimes regret, always a ‘what if’.
When you see a work of art that moves you, that captures you, beckons you, and when you stand in front of it, seems to speak to you, when you stand before it and want to know who this artist is, who has painted your innermost feelings, when you stand before it and you feel as if all your secrets are on display in this piece of art, then you are a very lucky person. You have found a soulmate, someone who understands you, who can put all your emotions onto a canvas and have them address you, completely, beautifully, unconditionally.
When you find that work of art, my friend, don’t think about the price or the creator or the occasion or the logistics or the place you may find or not find to hang it. These are piffling trifles, mere distractions. You have found true love. One that will grow with you, abide with you, comfort you in moments of distress, ease your heartache, laugh with you, accept your shortcomings with quiet understanding and brush away your faults with gentle humour.
Sit down with your piece and have a quiet conversation. Like all true love, it needs time to get to know you. Walk around the gallery/exhibition hall/studio and look at other work. When you have walked a while and seen everything, but can’t forget this piece, when you go home and find your mind returning to it, when you quietly work out how it would look in your hall or bedroom, when you find yourself defending its purchase, knowing how it will enrich your life, then you know this is love. Go back to the gallery/exhibition hall/studio and make it yours. Because we all know, love can be evasive.
And once you have it, hang on to it. When the years get troublesome, as they are often bound to, your work of art will give you many moments of comfort. True love is quiet, constant, gentle and runs deep. And is worth more than its weight in gold. That is what is really meant by ‘a good investment’.
