He walked in and saw an original Picasso painting in the gallery. Within five minutes, the Thai tourist bought it.

The price tag? A cool $1.2 million.

That million-dollar deal was struck late last year at The Opera Gallery at the Ngee Ann City which is currently embroiled in a tenancy dispute with its landlord.

It is believed it was paying $50,000 a month for the 2,200 sq ft space before it was evicted.

In an interview with The New Paper on Sunday, the gallery's director, Mr Stephane Le Pelletier, 42, claimed that despite the current downturn, it is still doing well.

But he was unable to give any figures on monthly sales because he said the data was stored in the company's computers which he now has no access to. The sale of the Picasso painting was made during The Opera Gallery's month-long exhibition last year from 26 Sep, featuring masterpieces.

Mr Le Pelletier claimed it wasn't the only big-ticket paintings sold during the exhibition.

Another 1967 Picasso in colour pencil, the Homme Margeur de Pasteque et Flutiste, was sold for about $1.8 million, and a piece entitled Howdy Doody by Andy Warhol for $240,962 to other foreign visitors.

Mr Le Pelletier claimed some of the paintings were bought on the spur of the moment when visitors dropped in as they were window-shopping in Orchard Road.

Referring to the buyer of the $1.2m Picasso, Mr Le Pelletier said: 'The buyer was here on holiday and when he walked in and saw the painting, he fell in love with it at first sight.'

He said the gallery sees at least 150 visitors a day, and twice the number on weekends.

It's not just foreign visitors who are on the Opera Gallery's list of high net-worth clientele. Without giving figures, he said that the clientele was a good mix of locals, expats and corporate clients.

One of his local regular clients, a 42- year-old woman from the banking industry who declined to be named, said there is a fair number of serious Singaporean art collectors here.

'Recession or not, serious collectors who can afford it will still buy pieces they like,' she said.

Weather-proof investment

'Art is not a mass consumer product, and if you see something you like, buy it. Because if you don't, you never know who else will walk in and buy that piece, and there is only one of it.'

Mr Le Pelletier added: 'Art, besides being a vibrant and important part of life, is a weather-proof investment. In good times and bad there will be collectors constantly looking out for the best acquisitions.'

The gallery has been bringing in original art pieces by master artists since 1997, as well as art works by contemporary living artists.

The prices of the paintings carried by the gallery range from about $6,000 for a work by a living artist to over a million for work by master artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali or Andy Warhol.

Mr Le Pelletier estimates there are about 300 pieces of art worth about $20 million in his gallery.