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A Claude Monet painting purchased not because of a passion for Impressionism or the influence of the art world, but thanks to a line from a 1990s cult film. This is the curious story told by Kim Kardashian in the biography "Citizen Kim," written by journalist Jonathan Van Meter, from which "The Hollywood Reporter" published an excerpt.
The American billionaire, entrepreneur, and founder of the Skims brand, revealed that she bought a work by the famous French painter inspired by "Clueless," the 1995 film starring Alicia Silverstone, which came out when Kardashian was 14 and became one of her favorites. At the heart of the cinematic reference is one of the film's most famous lines, uttered by protagonist Cher Horowitz: "It's a proper Monet.
From a distance it looks fine, but up close it's a big mess." A play on words that recalls the impressionist painter to describe a person who appears pleasant, but very different upon closer inspection.
“It’s why I bought my Monet,” Kardashian told Van Meter, explaining that the painting was her first real art purchase.
"In the movie, they called the girls 'a Monet' when from a distance they looked beautiful, but up close they were just a disaster." The purchase reportedly took place at auction in Rome, around 2021, when Kardashian was in the city with Kim Jones, then artistic director of Fendi's women's collections. Jones had collaborated with her on the Fendi x Skims collection, announced in 2021. Kardashian said she fell in love with a gray-toned Monet, depicting a landscape, which she wanted to place in her Palm Springs home, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and characterized by a minimalist aesthetic, dominated by concrete.
“I kept bidding and raising the bids. It was my first auction, and I wasn't sure how it worked,” she explained. Kim Jones reportedly convinced her to continue, encouraging her during the bidding: “Take it!” Kardashian thus won the painting, exceeding her initial budget, thanks, she admitted, to the adrenaline rush of the moment. This isn't the first time the star's passion for art has been publicly revealed. In a 2020 interview with “E!”, Kardashian cited a painting by Lucio Fontana as the most beautiful gift she's ever received. A blank canvas by the Italian artist also appears above a fireplace during the tour of her home published by Vogue in 2022. (by Paolo Martini)
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