The case of the painting nun

In the month of February, 400.000 euros were abducted from a Cister convent -Santa Lucia- habitated by nearly 20 nuns, somewhere between Madrid and Barcelona. The story is fantastic and, at the time, made me think of adventures, stories and movies. What a story. When answering the question "how come 400.000 euros are in custody by nuns of enclosed life?", one runs into the name of one of them, a hiper-realism painter, Isabel Guerra. Although her name was totally unknown to me, her trajectory was wide known in high-class circles, plus the Catholic spheres from bishops to the Pope. Guerra's paintings, although not very appreciated by some artists -I must say that, being an ignoramus, I like them-, cost between 10.000 and 20.000 euros.

Of course, it is a good opportunity to slander the Church and some has taken it. Scam is obvious. But it is so obvious, not only in Art Business, but everywhere, that only the simple is to be shocked or pretend to be because of it.

There are two quite interesting facts, completely missed by the chronicles, to which I would like to point out here:

First: The nun says that, when painting, she is in search of "Beauty, Light, Goodness, Truth; Beauty in  capital letters, from where Beauty exudes among us. Each painting has its own history, its life and I pour my whole heart in each one of them". You might believe that or not, but it is clear that rich people do. When dealing with money, you can become suspicious of everything; some people is willing to offer a blank check to the nun for one of her paintings. Rich people like it and trust it. Oh, it is some serious shit when talking about money, someone trusts.

Second: It might not be quite as I imagine, but can you think of a clearer form of rejection for money to have such a sum of money in a moneybox? I mean, would you not try to produce something with it? Someone would try to steal it, I can see that, but most of the nuns would not. Current families are broken to pieces when spoken about inheritances, for far less money than that, and here you have a handful of nuns living with no worries for an extraordinary sum of money underneath their pillows.

Guerra, I've read, broke her relationship with Sokoa (a posh Gallery in Madrid) in 2004 and has selling her paintings directly. Why?.... Well, I am sure there is more than meet the eye.

Here in London, at the entrance of St Martin-in-the-Fields, a placard manifests, amongst several statements, that the church, with all the program of concerts and exhibitions, is run as a business. A business! I find it quite interesting and quite agreeable. Well, why not? Let people earn their money, be financially self-dependent. Now, once they get their own money, keep it clear, mark it with fire: it is their money.

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