Buyer's Remorse

My wife has a friend who's son has just finished art college here in Porto. It's a talented young man. Feeling generous we decided to go to the studio he shares with two likeminded artist to buy one of his paintings. Specifically, we were interested in a painting of an orange tree that we had seen on his Instagram account. However, the painting was a good deal larger than we had imagined, and I was immediately worried about where to hang it.

But we weren't there just to look at that one painting, he had several more to show us, so we started going through more of his recent production. That's when I was struck by a tranquil looking landscape painted in the style of Cézanne. I recognized the scenery, and asked him if it was from his grandparents' place, up north at the border to Spain. It was. The view was from his upstairs bedroom.

That's great, I thought. Not only is this a nice approximation to a Cézanne painting, it's from a place I know and like. The scenery is typical for northern Portugal. A perfect thing to hang at home. However, my wife was not convinced. The orange tree had more intensity of colours. It would liven things up. It may also have nagged her that the landscape was that of her friend's childhood rather than her own personal experience. This was my only concern; that it was too private to someone else to whom my wife has a friendly but somewhat antagonistic relationship.

My wife and I decided to wait a few days to make up our minds rather than take a snap decision there and then. But things were not any clearer when we returned to the studio yesterday afternoon. My wife was still most interested in buying the orange tree while I remained set on the landscape.

After some back and forth, we settled on the landscape, in large part due to my assertive stance. We got it wrapped, and we took it with us home where I put it on a chair for us to admire. It looked very nice. However, my wife remained unenthusiastic. I had pushed her too hard, and now she was turning passive aggressive on me. Furthermore, I had no idea where to hang it. It didn't seem to fit anywhere.

My enthusiasm for the painting fell through the floor, and I could hardly sleep through the night for all my worries related to it. This morning, I tried to find a place for it, but nothing worked. I tried to imagine the orange tree in the same places, and was relieved to realize that it too would be difficult to fit. The problem was not so much the painting itself, but the lack of suitable places to hang it.

Then it struck me that the painting shouldn't hang anywhere very prominent. It's a painting that comes to its full when seen fleetingly, like a glance through a window. It's quite detailed and full of life. It's not lacking in depth or anything like that. However, it's not so fantastic that it can be contemplated for hours on end. The painting is made by someone just out of art school. It doesn't deserve our very best wall space.

It would be an insult to my wife's brothers to push aside their artwork in favour of our newly acquired landscape. My wife's brothers are established artists with decades of experience. We're blessed by the fact that they every now and again give us one of their pieces to hang on our walls for free. However, there is one piece by one of my wife's brothers that I don't like. It's an early piece from way back when he himself was just out of art school, and it's been hanging in our tiny hall since for ever.

I took down the artwork I disliked and hung the landscape in its place, and just like that, my buyer's remorse vanished into nothing. The landscape was the perfect replacement. It has the right dimensions and it's like a window. Rarely will we stand there and contemplate it in detail. Rather, we'll walk past it multiple times every day, every time catching a glimpse of the beautiful and tranquil landscape that defines northern Portugal.

My wife is not very impressed by any of this. She's still in her passive aggressive mood. But I'm sure she'll end up agreeing with me. However, this painting that was supposed to be her painting has now become mine. I've been assertive and pushy. To make up for this I'll donate this to her. I'll pay for it out of my account, and I'll be more cooperative and helpful as we go searching for something else to hang in a more prominent space. It's the least I can do after my pushy stunt to force my will on her.

Lesson learned is that I will not be too pushy with my opinion in the future, and I will also keep in mind that an artwork has to hang somewhere. If I don't know where to hang a particular piece of art, I'll refrain from buying it, no matter how much I like it, and I'll insist that my wife takes a similarly stance. Also, what defines the best location for a piece of art is its inherent quality. Price has nothing to do with it. The fact that we forked over a few hundred euro for our acquisition doesn't mean that it must be featured in a more prominent place than pieces that we've gotten for free, or even pieces made by our children. 

Landscape by Afonso Rocha