Years ago, art collector Barbara Lines used to judge potential boyfriends by their reactions to a painting of a nude man holding an iron.

Guys who didn't have an insightful response to it were out of luck.

"They wouldn't make the cut,'' Barbara says. "They didn't have to like it, but the did have to have an intelligent response.'' The impressionist painting, by an art student friend, used to hang in the living room of their apartment in Houston.

"My roommate and I would discuss how our dates responded,'' Barbara says.

"It was a sign of their honesty. How they responded showed something about their character.'' "When you are meeting people for the first time, it's interesting to see what they say about something confrontational.'' Six years later and happily married to Bermudian Grenville Lines, art continues to shape Barbara's life.

She chose her present house because of its ample wall space to hang her collection of over 20 paintings. She collects everything from 18th century English furniture to modern abstract paintings, but she especially loves collecting contemporary art.

"I collect contemporary art because I believe in supporting the present,'' she says. "I love the art of older artists like Van Gogh, for example, but there is no way that I could afford any of it, and his work is already so popular. Why not support someone because they're here, they're alive?'' "You breathe, you eat, you sleep. Some people breathe, they eat, they sleep, they paint. If someone has a gift like that you should be encouraging. I get so much pleasure from it.'' Seven pieces in Barbara's collection are by Bermudian artists, but she insists that she did not choose them because they were by Bermudians: "It's because they compete on an international level,'' she recently told The Royal Gazette .

"I started collecting in college. The more I saw, the more accepting I could get of stronger pieces.'' Barbara studied art history at the University of Texas and went on to complete the training programme at Christie's Auction House in London. She worked for four years as an in-house appraiser at Hart Galleries, one of the largest regional auction houses in the United States, and later founded her own art appraisal practise.

Barbara encourages people to go and see what's out there in the galleries.

"Just go and look, enjoy it, take two minutes to talk to the artists.'' she says.

"It's always good to study and learn something you're not familiar with.'' "Art is important because it's a time capsule. The details in the paintings tell you about the time it was created in. For example, the painting I have by Henry Ward, "Two Figures in a London Interior'', has details like a nipple ring, the type of underwear, the furniture -- in 20 years you'll be able to see how that stuff belonged to the early 1990's.'' Since moving to Bermuda to live full time five years ago, Barbara has seen art stretch and grow on the Island.

"You're seeing things now that would not be accepted even a few years ago,'' she says. "The older generation of artists here were very proficient at their ABC's. Our younger generation of artists are able to take the alphabet and mix it up.'' Art colours Barbara's world "Since I moved to Bermuda the art scene has gotten stronger and more controversial.'' Barbara believes people need to learn about more abstract or controversial art before they are able to truly appreciate it.

"Without the National Gallery and Masterworks educating the cocktail crowds it would be hard for someone without art education to appreciate it fully,'' she says. "Lecture series, gallery tours and exposure to visiting collections are all an important part of educating the public.'' She encourages her two young sons, Grenville Hamlet, three years old, and Austin, one and half, to be artistically creative.

A piece of Grenville's preschool artwork hangs in the dining room -- adding a candid unpretentiousness to her collection.

She sometimes worries the parents of playmates of her sons will disapprove of some of her more controversial art -- such as a large painting of two homosexual men hanging in her living room.

"Some of my pieces are controversial. The more you are exposed to it, the easier it is to take it in.'' Dinner parties at Barbara's house often wind up in heated debates about these more controversial works.

"It's funny because at the beginning some people can be shy about it,'' she says.

"But by the end they're excited about it -- you can see how stimulating art really is.''