Deep Reflections on the Painting’s Personal Significance
But as he weighed out the pros and cons about selling, the man was in deep reflection over the personal significance the painting had come to hold. It was no longer an art object. It had become a part of his life; it reminded him of the serendipity and mystery that life can offer. Acquiring the painting opened his eyes to a world which he had not appreciated before and introduced him to new ideas and people and experiences.
He had learned from the painting to find beauty in unexpected places, to know that stories are carried along with objects, to know that secrets exist in unassuming shapes. He had picked it at a yard sale, he had invested years in it, and it had constantly enriched his existence much more than he could have thought. Sending it away would be closing one chapter of his story.
He was thinking if he was able to price the picture in dollars, when everything that the painting had seen in his mind was much more significant than any piece of paper. It had transformed him; he would look deeper into art and history, but more importantly into the value of curiosity and openness. More than anything else, the painting was an expression of his discovery of himself, something he might want to continue rather than conclude through a sale.
