Art world goes mad for Britain’s ‘Mini Monet’: Boy aged seven makes £150,000 in 30 minutes by selling his paintings
His paintings fetch thousands and attract buyers from all over the world.
But while his watercolours, pastels and oil paintings hint at a talent honed through decades of practice Kieron Williamson is barely half-way through primary school.
The seven-year-old prodigy sold his latest collection of paintings for £150,000 at the weekend, with all 33 works sold within just half-an-hour.
Genius at work: Kieron Williamson, painting in his parents’ kitchen in Holt, Norfolk, has sold all over the world
The astonishing sale attracted buyers from as far as Arizona, New York and South Africa, with others bidding by telephone from around the world in the hope of securing an original.
One couple from Philadelphia camped for two days outside the gallery in Kieron’s home town of Holt, Norfolk, to make sure they did not miss out when the third exhibition of his work opened on Friday morning.
The pictures included an oil painting of Norwich Cathedral, a pastel of ducks on a marsh and a watercolour of fishermen unloading their catch.
Many of his paintings feature Norfolk landscapes or coastal scenes.
But the latest exhibition also included views of City Temple in Holborn, central London, and even a painting of Hong Kong.
The biggest sellers were a 20in by 30in oil painting called Sunrise at Morston, which sold for £7.995, and a 19in by 25in pastel called Marsh at Sunset, which fetched £6,750.
Impressionist of the Broads: Kieron’s landscapes of his native Norfolk show a talent well beyond his young age
Water way with colour: Light, colour and reflections fill one of the paintings sold in a recent auction
Kieron said: ‘I normally paint in the morning and I am up at 6am and then after school – but with the school holidays at the moment, I am painting all the time. I like landscapes as they’ve got the big Norfolk skies in them and not too many hills or mountains.’
Until two years ago, Kieron’s artistic talents stretched only to colouring in dinosaurs drawn for him by parents Keith, 44, and Michelle, 37.
But on a family holiday to Cornwall he was inspired by visits to harbours and ports and began producing ‘mind-blowing’ images of the boats in the water.
When the family returned home, the Williamsons sought the opinion of local artists and gallery owners who confirmed Kieron’s extraordinary ability to mix colours.
He began having weekly hour-long art classes with a local artist who was also a family friend and last summer, aged six, he held his first exhibition of 19 paintings, which were sold for £14,000 in a sealed bid auction.
Collection: Some of his pictures at the Holt gallery
The following November, another 16 of his paintings were up snapped for £17,000 in just 14 minutes in his second exhibition at the Picturecraft gallery.
Gallery owner Adrian Hill said: ‘Kieron has probably become one of the most collectable artists currently exhibiting worldwide.
‘He has a very realistic form of painting. People can see what his pictures are and understand them. He’s impressionist without being too abstract.
‘He is years in advance of where he should be. He has grasped aspects of perspective which many young adult artists still cannot understand.
‘He is just a happy-go-lucky lad who loves painting. He paints when he wants to and nobody puts him under pressure. I think he is just going to get better and better.’
Kieron, who also has a sister, Billy-Jo, six, grew up surrounded by paintings in the family’s small flat. His father, a former electrician, collected art as a hobby until three years ago, when a serious accident forced him to stop work and turn his hobby into an occupation.
Mrs Williamson, a nutritionist, has said she believes the family’s home, with ‘no garden or outside space’ may helped drive Kieron to ‘create his own scenery’ through his art.
He now paints up to six paintings a week and up to 700 people have registered on a waiting list for an original.
Mr and Mrs Williamson plan to buy Kieron a house with his earnings and invest the rest for him until he is aged 25.
He has also splashed out some of his money on two paintings by Norfolk landscape artist Edward Seago who died in 1974.
Mr Williamson said: ‘We were shocked that all the paintings sold so quickly.
‘Kieron is really pleased that it went so well. He loves his painting, but is also a normal lad who is passionate about football.’
Mohammed Abbasi 
Oh dear another amazing child “genius” – I’d like to see him sitting in the fresh air drawing from scratch – as for being another Monet or Picasso – I don’t think so – reminds me slightly of all that brouhaha a few years ago in Canada or USA – a whiz kid girl – turned out to be a frustrated parent who did all the hard graft – and even if this boy is naturally talented can his work really be worth so much so soon? – Maybe it is time to discover a talented old granny who has struggled to paint all her life (i.e. ME)!!