Pieter Lategan · 2 December 2025
The world often rushes past the things that matter most.
Take Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Chinese Girl — the famous “Green Lady.” For decades she was dismissed as “kitsch,” “low art,” “popular décor.” Yet today, this same painting hangs in one of the world’s great private collections, purchased by Mr. Laurence Graff for nearly £1 million
“Mid-century modern framed Chinese Girl painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff.”
Delaire Graff Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa — hotel review by OutThere
That price is not just a number — it is a reminder of how easily people underestimate the emotional and cultural power of art that speaks to millions.
If my own net worth were US$3.6 billion, then a work of this magnitude would be valued, in my eyes, around R11 million — not because of status or luxury, but because of its ability to touch history, identity, memory, and imagination all at once.
My intention is simple:
to show how deeply I value the artworks that shape how we see the world.
While others debate whether something is “high” or “low,” I look at what art does — how it moves people, how it lives in homes, how it becomes part of culture. Sometimes the pieces dismissed as “kitsch” end up defining an entire era.
People often miss the most important things in life because they chase the wrong symbols of importance.
Art teaches the opposite:
value is not dictated by fashion — it is discovered by attention.
And that is what I offer: attention.
Respect.
And a belief that art deserves to be lifted forward, not boxed into categories that keep creativity small.
"...the pieces that speak to the human soul will outlive every trend, every critic, every label — and every algorithm." - Pieter Lategan 2025.
Ludovico Einaudi - Experience (Live At Fabric, London/2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment