Semar Kuning 1 — Attraction in Bali

This is my second time through, and I was happy to return to Semar Kuning. What do you need to know? It's a beautiful spot, selling a range of attractive pieces, that are likely much less than you'd pay back home (as long as you're ready to barter.)

Two things seem to come up in the negative reviews: price and originality. On the first, if you're not prepared to barter you shouldn't comment on the price. It's a barter culture, so it's unfair to take the first price at face value. We ended up buying five pieces (two very large, one large, and two small) - and ended up paying 10% less for the entire set than the opening price on one of the paintings. It's fine if you don't want to barter, but then don't comment on the price.

On the second, I'm less sure - as I'm not an art expert. The pieces we bought certainly seem to be originals and each came with a certificate of authenticity (for what that's worth.) Could you buy similar pieces of some of the work at small stalls? Yes. However, from what I saw, this was more skewed to the more "touristy" and less expensive works. I can confidently say we did not see anything close to the large pieces we bought anywhere on the island. Either way, for us, it was a question of value. We still paid a fraction of what art of this quality would cost us back home. And, better yet, we were able to support the local economy here while doing it.

So, be open to the experience, understand what you're getting into, and have a fun time. If you end up with our friend Roy (Marta) on your visit, tell him...

Brought to the place by the taxi driver we hired, thought it was another tourist drop off, but I was dead wrong. This art gallery is easily the most impressive I have seen in southeast Asia by a country mile. With countless of high-quality paintings of all genres with unbelievable prices! (negotiable) I wanted to buy several but wasn't sure how the roll-in-the-tube painting would turn out after an international flight back home, nor how it would look after reframed. It was absolutely no problem at all. The painting was in perfect condition when I'm back. To reframe it, I asked my trusted carpenter and he did a wonderful job in putting the beautiful painting back to where it belongs. The frame was even better than the original that I remembered.

Now the painting was shown prominently in my living room and every time I see it, I really want to go back to this gallery to get more. I even consider going to Bali just to get more paintings from this gallery alone, would...

A wonderfully impressive gallery with thousands of paintings to peruse. Being personally accompanied by a staff member was, at first , a little off putting although he proved to be a great source of information about the paintings and their artists. The gallery is very pricey but don't let that put you off visiting. We were encouraged to make an offer on a painting we really loved that was well out of price range. We said that we didn't want to offend by making a low offer but was told, in good humour, that if we didn't offer we'd never know !! After a call to the local artist our offer was accepted ( at less than half the asking price). It just goes to show that, even in a very well reputed gallery such as this there are always bargains to be had if you can put your 'bargaining hat' on and not feel embarrassed by offering.......the staff are certainly not , indeed, they're quite happy to barter with the artists on...