Advertisement

‘Mini Monet’ sells enough art to buy a home

At an age when most of his peers are just starting to figure out proportion and perspective in art class, Kieron Williamson, 9, has been painting professionally for years.

Dubbed a 'Mini Monet,' the renowned landscape artist just purchased his family a £150,000 ($245,000 CAD) home in Ludham, England, from his earnings. (The home, a former 19th century bank, will remain in trust until his 18th birthday.)

Kieron's last major exhibition saw 33 of his paintings sold within a half hour — for £150,000. His latest 12 paintings will go on sale this week at Norfolk's Picturecraft Gallery. With buyers already promising to camp overnight outside the gallery, the prodigy's exhibit is expected to sell out instantly.

Watch ABC's coverage of his last exhibition below.

"It's lovely to see a nine-year-old boy keeping traditional landscape painting alive," Kieron's mother, Michelle, told The BBC.

"The new paintings reflect Kieron's continuing passion for capturing Norfolk landscapes, as well as dipping his toes into foreign waters. We see massive progress in Kieron's work every three months or so and so you can't help but celebrate and share this progress with family, friends and the public."

"He is unrivaled. There isn't any other child out there who can paint as well in three different media — watercolour, oil and pastel. His grasp of the technical elements really is a wonderful thing," gallery owner Adrian Hall said.

Kieron's family is trying to keep the young artist's life as normal as possible, rejecting interviews from international media outlines, and investing in the boy's other interests, too, like football.

"He already has his own house so if he decides he wants to do something completely different when he is older, at least he won't have to worry about a mortgage," Kieron's father, Keith, said.