Matias Krahn

Forget the 'Rebajas' ..

Matías Krahn's "El Centro de Jade", 2007; oil on canvas; 1.60 x 1.60.

Decisions, decisions... Last Saturday, engaged in my routine of arriving at the kiosk in Calle Goya to buy the "Financial Times-Week End" just before closing time (at 1 p.m.), I'm stopped short at my "local" art gallery...

Like tasting a vintage of a Grand Cru "en primeur", even before it gets the attention of the retailers or the wine connoisseurs and critics, I'm showed a photo.

The very latest Matias Krahn, I'm told. Just out of the atelier and off the young Chilean painter's brush-and-colours attentions. Would I like to be top of a short-list of potential buyers?

Like a drug addict who cannot just say no, I confirm I am honoured by the status offered. Prices were not discussed at this junction.

So, in a week of "Sales!!" and "50% Off!" stickers at every shop-window, I keep my buying nerve and my wallet tightly shut. I'm economizing, you see.

I must have that painting, I must...