Chapter 1557 Ivy Lau

The woman in a floral dress hesitated for a few seconds before fishing out her own custom metal pen from her handbag. Then she started writing on the provided registration form.

When she was finished, the docent quickly checked the completed form, smiled, and opened the door. "Welcome, Mademoiselle Ivy Lau! Please enter and enjoy."

Ivy Lau nodded before entering. She first paused right inside the door and looked around. The special wing was not that big. It also looked emptier than the other regular wings.

However, the art pieces inside this place were indeed more impressive. Their sizes were not only larger, but the feel of the art pieces themselves was very lifelike.

There were only a couple of other guests in the special wing. One took his own sweet time admiring the incredible art pieces inside. The other was in the midst of writing on the bidding slip for the huge marble statue.

Another docent appeared and greeted Ivy Lau. "Welcome to the special wing, Mademoiselle! Please feel free to walk around and enjoy Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson's wonderful art. Please note that the special wing has slightly different silent auction rules than the ones in the regular wings as requested by the artist."

Ivy listened to the docent's explanation.

The additional rule for the special wing's silent auction was to give Ashandra Knightson consent to borrow the artworks from the buyer within 24 months after the purchase date. This was because Ashandra might want to display these special art pieces for her next exhibitions. Of course, the art pieces would be safely returned to the buyer after the agreed time.

If she failed to fulfill her end of the agreement, then she would pay double the purchase price as a penalty. Similarly, if the buyer failed to fulfill the silent auction's special rule, then they would void the purchase agreement and would need to return the art piece.

So far, nobody complained about the special rule. This was because Ashandra Knightson had similar special rules before. Her fans were already aware of this tendency of hers.

Most of the time, she wouldn't even use this special rule in the first place. There were only a handful of instances when she requested to borrow the purchased art pieces to display in her other exhibitions before safely returning them to the original buyer.

This time, however, might be different than usual.

The docent explained, "Due to the popularity, several galleries from all over the world have expressed interest in displaying Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson's art pieces from this 'Generations' special collection."

Ivy was distracted by the huge painting across her. It was the only painting hanging on that wall, making it the most eye-catching art piece upon entering this wing.

The docent noticed her interest. "Do you like that painting? Please follow me so that you can take a closer look at it."

She followed the docent.

The painting was bigger than she initially thought. She had to take a few steps back to fully view the entire thing at a close range.

"This painting is called 'Once a Mother, Forever a Mother" and is the most popular art piece in this special collection," the docent said.

Ivy Lau looked around. "I want to bid for this painting but I don't see the bidding box for it."

"We apologize but this painting is not up for bidding. Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson has already gifted it to Madame Iris Long, her good friend. Madame Iris Long is the beautiful muse for this painting. Mademoiselle Knightson has mentioned before that Madame Iris Long is her biggest inspiration for this entire collection, 'Generations'. The other art pieces almost put her into depression, but she said that this particular painting was her saving grace, giving her so much joy while creating it."

Ivy didn't reply. She continued looking at the painting without saying anything.

The docent didn't mind. Each art enthusiast and connoisseur had different ways of enjoying art. Some wanted to know everything about the creation of the art piece while some just wanted to quietly enjoy it on their own. The docent figured that the woman in the floral dress was the latter type.

"Ten million euros," Ivy said.

"I beg your pardon?" the docent asked.

"Tell the artist that I'm willing to pay ten million euros for this painting."

The docent hesitated. "Uhm, please wait. Let me contact our manager."

Ivy nodded. She watched as the docent walked to a corner and pressed on an earpiece, presumably contacting the gallery's manager.

About ten minutes later, the curator appeared. He was the one who she met at the gallery's lobby earlier.

"Mademoiselle Ivy Lau?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I have spoken with the artist. Mademoiselle Knightson thanks you for your interest but unfortunately has to decline your offer. I don't know if my staff has explained it to you yet, but this painting has already been reserved as a gift for the artist's good friend. I hope you understand that this painting is not available for bidding or purchase."

"Fifteen million euros."

The docent's eyes widened. The curator, however, remained calm and continued to politely decline the woman's offer.

"Twenty million," Ivy Lau continued to say.

The curator gave a signal behind him. A couple of burly security guards entered the special wing.

This didn't escape Ivy Lau's eyes. She sighed with a sound of big regret. "I give up. It seems that this painting is not meant for me."

The curator also released a mental sigh of relief. "We offer our deepest apologies. My staff and I can't really do anything. Mademoiselle Knightson has the final say. In fact, you aren't the first one to offer to buy this painting, but Mademoiselle Knightson rejected all their offers. We hope you understand."

"I see." She didn't say anything more but continued to admire the painting.

The curator signalled for the docent to leave everything to him. The docent nodded and assisted the other guests instead. As for the curator, he stayed near the woman in a floral dress.

He didn't disturb her but kept an eye on her. The two security guards he called over earlier also stayed near the entrance.

There was no immediate danger, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The artist, Ashandra Knightson, had repeatedly told him that in case of an emergency, he and his staff should prioritize saving the painting "Once a Mother, Forever a Mother" over any of the other art pieces. It was the most important art piece in this collection for her.

Ivy Lau ignored the curator, treating him as if he didn't exist. Nobody could see her expression behind her dark semi-transparent veil plus the dim lighting.

Other than the curator who was able to see what she looked like earlier with the brighter lighting in the lobby, none of the others realized how much she resembled the woman featured in the huge painting in front of her.

Her eyes examined everything in the painting when she noticed something. She pointed at a shadow in the corner of the painting. "That is…?"

The curator put on a professional smile. "Good eye, Mademoiselle. There's an interesting story behind that shadow. Mademoiselle Knightson originally only wanted to include the mother, children, and pets in the painting but felt that it's not complete without the father. So in the end, she decided to include the shadow of Madame Iris Long's husband instead. This way, the whole family is included without taking the focus away from the mother."

"Very interesting, indeed," Ivy Lau murmured.

A few more minutes later, she finally turned her back on the painting. "It's such a shame that I wasn't able to buy this painting."

"Once again, we apologize," the curator said. "But we do have other special art pieces here. All of them are available for bidding in the silent auction."

She swept her gaze on the other art pieces. Each was more incredible than the other, but she didn't seem interested.

"I think I'm going to check the other art pieces in the regular wings again," she said. "I might find something that I like."

The curator nodded and smiled. After the woman in a floral dress left the special wing, he finally released a big sigh of relief. His stomach grumbled. He hadn't finished eating his dinner yet when one of his staff called him earlier.

The docent approached him. "She offered twenty million euros. Wow."

"That's nothing. You don't know but several bigshots offered to buy this painting for a bigger amount of money. There was a French magnate who wanted to buy it for 50 million euros. Then a tech billionaire offered 100 million euros for it. Yesterday, there was also a woman who was supposedly a Middle Eastern princess—I forgot where she's from—and she offered 150 million euros to buy the painting.

"Mademoiselle Knightson had to personally step forward and explain to them that she's not selling this painting and that she already gave it as a present to Madame Iris Long. It was only then that they graciously gave up."

The docent was in awe and couldn't help but admire the painting even more. "I didn't expect that this painting would fetch that kind of price. Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson is truly a living legend in the art world."

The curator patted the docent's shoulder while shaking his head. "It's not the artist or the painting alone that contributed to its value. The muse's identity should also be a huge factor."

"Isn't Madame Iris Long just a Chinese singer and billionaire's wife?"

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