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Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
What could you buy for €250m? From a private island to a famous footballer
Ireland has a newest millionaire after Tuesday night's life changing EuroMillions win, the largest in Irish history. One lucky player managed to scoop up €250 million, putting them into the same league as some of Ireland's wealthiest people, affording them the opportunity to purchase some of the most lavish luxury items in the world. When Limerick's Dolores McNamara snapped her €115 million EuroMillions win, she kept a mainly quiet life, but did purchase a lot of property - for herself and her family. On the other hand, UK Lotto winner Michael Carroll won millions in 2002, but lost it all years later. What could Ireland's newest millionaire do with €250 million? Quite a lot. You could purchase a castle, a private island, a super yacht, even a football team. We put together a list of some of the top items the lucky winner can make their own. There are a considerable number of islands up for sale in Ireland, and around the world, the Tuesday night's EuroMillions player could purchase if they fancied. The lucky winner would be able to buy up a number of islands in the Bahamas or South Pacific, with a price tag ranging from €38 million right up to €160 million for an island off the coast of Thailand. But if they wanted to stay close to home, Shore Island off Galway would only set them back just over €1 million. Now if one decided to purchase one of these south pacific islands, they might need to leave some spare change to get a private jet or a super yacht to ensure they can get there with no stress. What says high society more than a private collection of some of the finest works of art? With €250 million in the bank one could theoretically afford to purchase some of the most expensive works that have ever gone to auction. While some are understandably still out of the price range of someone with a few hundred million, French post-impressionist painter Paul Cézanne's The Card Players, bought by the oil rich nation of Qatar back in 2011, cost around €250 million at the time - one of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction. Now if Qatar doesn't want to sell it back at the original price, our lucky EuroMillions winner could still pick up Paul Gauguin's Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), worth around €242,565,455, or Rembrandt's Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit for around €207,789,046. With the €250 million in the bank, the sky is the limit, well in 2025 it isn't really anymore. With hundreds of millions in your pocket, some of the world's most expensive super yachts are attainable. The Rising Sun superyacht, built in 2004, is valued at around €173 million, and sports a wine cellar and basketball court on board. With a bit of a price tag of just over €4 million dollars the Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita could be yours, and with most top range sports cars fitting in this bracket, a whole fleet is on the cards. If you wanted to purchase a private jet, say a VIP airliner like a Boeing, this would cost just over €100 million, but a smaller one would only run you up to €7 million, so the choice is yours (if you are the lucky winner that is.) You could also broach the final frontier and head to space via a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which costs around $60.8 million per seat. €250 million bucks can get you a hell of a lot, or very little, in the football world. If you wanted to splash it all out on one player, Spanish teenager Lamine Yamal, who plays for FC Barcelona, will set you back the most, €200 million, according to Transfermarkt - although his release fee could be much higher. If that is just too much for one player, splashing out just over €220 million could get you both Julian Alvarez and Declan Rice. You could also buy a small fixe-upper club and bolster it with a few smaller fry players, following the footsteps of US actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who splashed out just €2.5 million for the then failing Welsh football club Wrexham AFC. With €250 million under the belt, it seems like a stunning chateaux, castle or mansion is a necessary purchase, or if modern luxury is your thing - a multi-million dollar New York or London apartment. A stunning French countryside chateaux will set you back around €5 million, although the most expensive 36 room spot is on the market for €53 million. If a modern pad is more your vibe, a central New York apartment can set you back around €22 million, so both are an option if you want to jet between your French villa and premium New York living space. If you wanted to stay closer to home, the most expensive house sold in Ireland last year was Ballynatray House in Youghal, Cork, which hit the market for a whopping €29.25 million.
Irish Examiner
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Experiencing the light-filled landscapes of Provence that inspired Cézanne's works
It is quite astonishing to realise that a painting few people wanted to buy a little over a century ago is now worth a quarter of a billion dollars. Paul Cézanne's The Card Players became the most expensive piece of art in the world in 2011 when it was bought by the Qatar royal family for $250m. It has since been overtaken by two other masterpieces, Willem de Kooning's Interchange for $300m in 2015 and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi for $450m in 2017. But that hardly diminishes the magnitude of what The Card Players achieved — a painting from 1890-'92 of two of Cézanne's humble estate workers playing at a table in a dark room. Cézanne, along with other contemporary impressionist and post-impressionist artists like Vincent Van Gogh, was not appreciated in his time. But unlike the Dutch genius, Cézanne did not die in poverty. His father, Louis-Auguste, was a successful banker who gave his son an allowance enabling him to follow his dream of becoming a painter. And he and his two sisters, Marie and Rose, inherited the family estate, Jas de Bouffan. But despite producing countless paintings of the surrounding countryside, he was never accepted in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence which refused to exhibit his work. Now a further ignominy has been discovered. Jas de Bouffan, where he lived for 40 years, is currently being restored for its first ever public opening which will coincide with a landmark exhibition of his work, Cézanne at Jas de Bouffan, from June 28 to October 12. Cézanne Paul (1839-1906). États-Unis, Chicago (IL), The Art Institute of Chicago. 1942.457. During the renovation, workers discovered an unknown painting on an inside wall of the house — under a layer of white paint. Someone who owned the beautiful period home after Cézanne's time was so unimpressed by the fresco they simply painted over it. Initial signs suggest it is a scene of boats on a river and it is now being restored. The grand salon of the house was once covered in Cézanne's frescos. But when the artist started to become recognised years after his death the paintings on plaster were cut from the walls, put in frames and sold around the world. We are on a tour of the estate and work is still busily going on for the grand opening. Piles of calade, large pebbles native to Provence, are ready for cobblestone-style groundwork, ditches are dug for power cables, and a large reservoir, which looks like a swimming pool, is to be cleaned. A beautiful alley of trees is much like it appeared in Cézanne's The Allée of Chestmut Trees at the Jas de Bouffan. The estate, once in the countryside, is now surrounded by urban development. Mont Sainte-Victoire, Cézanne's beloved mountain which he painted no fewer than 77 times, and which was once clearly visible from the property, is now hidden from view. We are lucky to be the first recent visitors to the estate — it used to be by appointment only — which was taken over by the local authority in 1994. From this summer, admirers of the artist will be able to walk in his footsteps and stand where he painted many of his works in an upstairs studio his father built for him, lit by a large skylight. It was here, surrounded by 15 hectares of vineyards and orchards, that he produced his still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, many of which will feature in the exhibition in the local Musée Granet. The Card Players was one of a series of five painted here in the 1890s. During the renovation of Jas de Bouffan, workers discovered an unknown painting on an inside wall of the house — under a layer of white paint. Someone who owned the beautiful period home after Cézanne's time was so unimpressed by the fresco they simply painted over it. Initial signs suggest it is a scene of boats on a river and it is now being restored. The ground floor and an upstairs room are being prepared for the opening but others will not be finished until next year. Visitors will also be able to visit the studio he built, the 'Atelier des Lauves', after being forced to sell Jas de Bouffan in 1899 to give his sisters their share of their father's inheritance. The artist produced his final paintings here from 1902 to his death in 1906, working daily in a room flooded with light. The studio on Lauves Hill overlooking Aix is being restored and will contain many of his possessions, a permanent legacy of Cézanne 2025. Cézanne adored the light of Provence and once said: 'When you're born there, it's hopeless, nothing else is good enough.' We experience that light ourselves when we tour the abandoned Bibémus quarries where the painter did countless landscapes with the giant sandstone rocks and Mont Sainte-Victoire in the background. A new public trail will be opened leading to the quarries to the east of the city. Replicas of his work are embedded in places he loved, particularly on the Terrain des Peintres, a terrace near his studio where there are nine copies on enamalled plates. You can follow his development through the decades, from his early impressionist paintings to the cubism and abstraction of his latter days, a development that inspired Picasso to call him 'the father of us all'. Visitors will also be able to visit the studio he built, the 'Atelier des Lauves', after being forced to sell Jas de Bouffan in 1899 to give his sisters their share of their father's inheritance. Art and Provence are eternally linked and visitors seeking more cultural enlightenment should make their way to the amazing Chateau La Coste, owned by Irish hotelier and developer Paddy McKillen. It's a working biodynamic vineyard featuring huge art installations by the likes of Damien Hirst and Irish artist Sean Scully, and by famed architects like Tadao Ando from Japan and Brazil's Oscar Niemeyer. Bono's pal, Guggi, features with a giant bronze chalice along with works by Tracey Emin, Yoko Ono, REM's Michael Stipe and many more. We walk through long rows of grapes to reach Bob Dylan's Rail Car, a real American box car set on rail tracks. Once used to transport paper rolls by an Oregon lumber company, its cover has been replaced by a maze of sculptured iron. Dylan said the sight and sound of freight trains was part of his childhood. A short time later we bump into Paddy McKillen's sister Maire, who tells us it was she who originally found the vineyard for her brother in 2002. The Belfast-born chef had settled in Aix because of the quality and range of its foods and herbs and Paddy fell in love with the area while visiting. He asked her to find him a farm. Writer Jim Gallagher with a statue of Paul Cezanna. 'I knew he was serious because he's a real visionary,' says Maire, who retains her soft Belfast accent after decades in France. 'Once I found it, he said, 'this place is too beautiful to keep for ourselves'. 'He loves art and the artistic process and he began to invite people down, people he knew or people whose work he liked like architect Richard Rogers. 'They came because of their love of Provence — and Provence is why we are still here.' Rogers went on to design a spectacular 120m long gallery on a hillside overlooking the chateau and surrounding landscape. Beginning with just a cafe, the estate now has a five-star hotel, a four-star hotel, six restaurants, and the vineyard produces up to 900,000 bottles of wine a year, mostly rosé. The final stop on our Cézanne-inspired art tour is the Gallifet Art Centre in Aix, which specialises in the work of young up-and-coming artists. Nicolas Mazet opened the gallery in his 19th- century home in 2010 and says they show the work of young artists inspired by Cézanne's never-give-up attitude. Cézanne 2025 is a fitting tribute to a painter whose work was forward-looking yet rooted in tradition. The reopening of his house and studio simply give us two more excuses to visit the fabled region and explore the enduring beauty of luminous Aix-en-Provence. Jim was a guest of Aix-en-Provence tourism. Provencal landscape, France, showing Mont Ste Victoire, from the same spot in Aix-en-Provence where Cezanne painted the same landscape as it was in the 19th century. ESCAPE NOTES For more information on the Cézanne celebrations see For more information on visiting Aix and Provence see and Where to stay If you're staying in Aix, a comfortable base is the four-star Hotel Aquabella which has a large outdoor pool, a smaller inside pool and spa with sauna and steam rooms. Its L'Orangerie restaurant serves up a lovely prawn linguine which ticks all my boxes. Where to eat In the city centre, a good place to eat and watch the world go by is the lively terrace of Le Mirabeau, which has very friendly staff. For dinner, the rooftop terrace of La Fromagerie du Passage specialises in cheese dishes. If you want to spoil yourself, try lunch in the beautiful L'Atelier des Lodges, which has a terrace with a spectacular view of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Or try the luxurious Villa Gallici, a five-star Relais & Chateaux hotel based in an 18th-century mansion which won a recent Cézanne menu competition to reinterpret Provencal cuisine. La Taula, its gourmet restaurant, is a haven of style and tranquility overlooking one of the hotel's pools. Artistic inspiration The sculpture park and organic winery at Chateau La Coste is open seven days a week from 10am – 7pm. The walking trail through the 600-acre park is €15. Six restaurants have various opening times. Gallifet Art centre is currently open from noon to 6pm, Wednesday to Saturday, price €6. From June 1, it is open every day except Monday during the summer months. There is also a restaurant, shop and apartment to rent.
