Established the identity of the new owner's "Reclining Nude" by Modigliani: Chinese billionaire Liu Iceni, who began his career with a seat behind the wheel of a Shanghai taxi

learned the name of the buyer of the painting Amedeo Modigliani "Reclining Nude": after 9-minute of the auction, with five bidders, the final bid of $170,4 million with the Commission made Chinese billionaire Liu Izani (Liu Yiqian), who began his career as a taxi driver on the streets of Shanghai. Recall that Modigliani's painting became the second most expensive piece of art in the world (if to consider only public sale at auction).

In a telephone interview Liu Icanh confirmed the fact of purchase of work and reported that intends to carry a picture of Modigliani in Shanghai, where he and his wife Wang Wei (Wang Wei) is holding two private Museum, Long Museum Pudong, which opened in 2012, and Long Museum West Bund, which opened in 2014.

"We want to coincide with the exhibition of paintings by the five-year anniversary of our Museum, — says the collector. — Art lovers in China will be able to see the masterpieces of global art without leaving the country; this is one of the main reasons why we are opening museums".

Ican Liu is known worldwide as "the tycoon-taxi driver". A teenager in the troubled years of the cultural revolution Liu Ican really worked as a taxi driver on the streets of Shanghai. In 1980-90's it, without completing secondary education, earned a fortune playing the stock exchange real estate and pharmaceuticals. In 2015, the state of Liu Izana was estimated at 1.5 billion dollarov@

Ican Liu and his wife in China are among the most prominent collectors (according to some, toss money left and right). They gathered a vast collection of both traditional and contemporary Chinese art. But about two years ago, Liu Izany got the idea to collect not only Chinese art, but also the world Shedevry@

"the Name of Modigliani is heavy on the art market. This work is relatively sweet compared to other Nudes by this artist. And Modigliani's work in the Nude collected by leading museums of the world", — explained the choice of Liu Izani@

Collector tactics of Mr. Liu Izana some experts of the Chinese art world seems to work off. For example, the Director of the Center for contemporary art GI Ullens in Beijing says: "It's the collectors who have so much money that they can buy taste; or even they don't have to have a taste because they buy everything they see. With one exception — they just buy all the most expensive. It's not the experts".

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchin, AI

Sources: nytimes.com, artinvestment.ru