A Xu Beihong painting was sold at an auction in Beijing for 266.8 million yuan ($42 million) this December, smashing previous world records for the father of modern Chinese painting.
The record-setting painting, which measures 150 by 250 centimeters, was completed in 1951, his largest work after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The painting portrays three farmers cultivating their land with an ox. It achieved the highest-ever bid after a fierce bidding war which started at a set price of 150 million yuan.
Culturally, the news brings the prestigious painter back to the public attention.
Born in 1895, Xu worked as a commercial artist in China and later traveled to Europe to study Western art techniques. The influence of his Western education came to define his art as well as the curriculum he introduced later in life as an art professor at National Central University.
The magnum opus was initially sent to Guo Moruo, a Chinese literary and cultural celebrity and close friend of Xu, as a gift, and was later purchased by a collector who commissioned the sale to the Poly Auction House.
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