Happy Art Collectors

Inspire by the story about Pere Tanguy, Dr.T.F. Chen developed a series of painting call "Happy Art Collectors." As a collector himself, Chen knows what a joy it is to own artworks, especially masterpieces. Art enriches the quality of our lives.

Julien ( pere )Tanguy owned an art supply shop in Montmartre. An old socialist, Tanguy had always sympathized with poor artists,and often accepted their works as payment for painting materials. His shop became a meeting place for avant-garde artists such as: Guillaumin, Pissaro, Renoir, Gauguin, Cezanne, Signac, Bernard, Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. So little by little, Pere Tanguy became an art collector and art dealer.

Moreover," pere Tanguy had become a kind of sage...very rebellious in his wisdom and very thoughtful in his rebelliousness. He espoused a doctrine of simple-minded love of the poor, fixing his ideals on a future filled with goodness and love."1

In the winter of 1886, Vincent Van Gogh forged a solid friendship with Pere Tanguy. Vincent painted a portrait of Tanguy, depicting him sitting in a room covered with Japanese prints, wearing a big planter’s hat, and " symmetrically viewed from the front like a Buddha."2 Bernard praised the painting, remarking that " in it, Van Gogh expressed very sell the contentedness, the stoicism, and the hearty self-confidence that Tanguy’s upright character assured him."3

Because of his kindness and generosity to the talented young artists he associated with, Pere Tanguy, at one time, became the only Parisian to own canvases by Cezenne,as well as Van Gogh.

Chen’s "Happy Art Collector Series" is based on such real-life stories. Among these Lucky people are the postman Joseph Roulin, the cafe-owner Mme. Ginoux, and the Arlesienne " mousume " who often posed for Van Gogh.