The Future Gift of Buying a Painting

Paintings have meaning, resonance and power in symbiosis with their viewers. For a collector, this is a soul friendship that develops over time. But what about the other people who encounter your painting through their relationship with you?

I found myself in conversation with Deb Barnard MBE recently. We played with the idea that collectors are the gatekeepers, or custodians, of a future relationship between a painting, a person, their memories and imagination.

I think of a painting by Richard Robins which my parents bought when their house was a building site. Throughout my childhood, my Mum stayed sane amidst the chaos of collapsing ceilings, plaster dust and young children by playing the piano whilst looking at this painting. The painting, for me, is?of autumn leaves tumbling over a shed roof. It is a visual dance of colour and rhythm and I spent hours as a child, and now as an adult, marvelling at it.?The artist's sister Mrs Johnson also taught me at primary school. Thoughts of the piano and painting and are intertwined with my mother. My childhood is illuminated by memories of sneaking out of bed to sit on the stairs and listen, or arriving home from school to hear music on the doorstep. These memories continue to grow as my Mum, now a Grandmother, plays the piano with my nephews overlooked by the painting.

?A collector interpreted her?painting as symbolising her own internal landscape. As a self portrait it changed the way she saw and experienced her life on a daily basis. She listed the painting in her will to go to a niece.This was a way for her essence to live on and she had thought deeply about who would love it as much as her.?

Paintings accumulate memories and meaning as they live in your home. They become a gentle presence touching the daily lives of those you love. Each person will have their own unique connection with a painting,?informed by their love for you, the memories you share and the way a painting lives and continues to grow in their imagination.?

How do you live with your paintings and which secret conversations are they having with your loved ones??