We got a $800 painting!

For free! Because we’re that awesome.

While we were in Oia, we strolled into yet another interesting art gallery. We gawked at the gorgeous paintings as we strolled through the gallery and chatted candidly with the artist.

“This one is 900 euros, but I can give it to you for less if you pay cash,” he cheerily remarked.

‘It’s beautiful,” we both remarked and followed along the wall towards exceedingly larger paintings. We made guesses at the cost and Brent was right on key when the artist confirmed that this particular painting was 4500 euros. Yikes. The artist jokingly encouraged us to split the price between the two of us as the three of us walked into the next room of the gallery that was filled with smallest, yet equally magnificent paintings.

As we were about to thank the artist for his time and step out onto the street, the man sat down behind his desk and simply affirmed, “now, I have a gift for you”.

Brent and I exchanged puzzled looks and watched as the man got up and headed toward the cabinets in the corner of the room. After thumbing through a small file, the artist turned back to us and said “now, you will be even more happy”, in his grammar-skewed English.

We followed him back to the small desk and he chatted away about a proper title for the painting as he signed his name on the left bottom corner of the painting. It finally hit Brent and I that he was giving us one of his original pieces. Now, to clarify, this is not a notecard-sized watercolor. He handed us a 20 by 30 cm original (and quite beautiful!) watercolor of Oia village. He even pulled out a dark blue envelope and a gold certificate that ensured we bought this painting for “oh, 2000 euros,” he said as he wrote the amount of the certificate. Brent signed his name after the artist stamped the certificate as an “official” purchase.

We thanked him several times and shook hands, vowing to return when we could afford to make a proper purchase for one of his larger pieces. Before we turned to leave, he very seriously leaned in to tell us that he usually sells this sort of painting for 500-600 euro during the summer.

Whether that price was accurate or not, we felt special to have received such a gift from this artist’s magnificent gallery. We nearly skipped out of the gallery afterward, excited about our priceless souvenir from Santorini. :)