HOLT, England, (Reuters Life!) – A seven-year-old British boy is being hailed as an art genius after selling 16 paintings for 18,000 pounds ($29,280) in just 14 minutes.
Kieron Williamson from the eastern English town of Holt has artistic skills that would be the envy of any serious painter and drawn comparisons to Pablo Picasso, a child prodigy who became one of the most recognised artists of the 20th century.
Inspired by his local Norfolk landscape, on the East Anglia coast, Williamson’s atmospheric pastels, watercolours and oil paintings — which are valued at up to 1,500 pounds each — show a maturity well beyond his years.
It all began on a family holiday to Cornwall on the southwest English coast when Kieron was five. Inspired by the harbour view, he asked his parents for his first sketch-pad.
From that moment on, he was hooked, according to his father Keith Williamson.
“When he first started painting he would be up every morning at six and we’d be woken up by the chink of jam-jars and he’s still very much like that,” Keith said.
While supportive, Kieron’s parents are careful not to push their son. He only paints when and what he wants and the family limit the number of works they will put up for sale.
He has a waiting list of hundreds and requests for his work have been flooding in from all over the world.
Keith said a sale of Kieron’s works held in November was phenomenal and even drew a buyer from Japan.
