The astonishing adventures, the rise and fall of King Paintin, a visual artist that joins Art to Ethics, at a time when both of them leave people cold. This happens behind the scenes of the Italian art system, a microcosm, an aristocratic circle in which some significant actors are highlighted, therefore a gallery of portraits is given through both writing and painting. The project gives a lucid glance at the contemporary art scene, obscure and cryptic to most people, in which some topical issues of the ongoing debate are discussed. The plot highlights the set of rules that governs the art system, the moods of the actors involved, focusing on some special cases that KP experienced personally. “To write about such a complex microcosm one should be like Marcel Proust. The rules of that elite, he had splendidly described, are strikingly similar to those at issue", as he said. Many people in the attempt to explain why, in the last decades, Italy has not been competitive at the international level, gave the most disparate answers. This story gives a quick draft, deliberately restricted, through anecdotes based on personal experiences. This book provides critical tips, it's strongly recommended reading it.