天價裸女畫買主劉益謙 出租車司機到富豪藏家

BEIJING — Liu Yiqian, a former taxi driver turned billionaire art collector, confirmed on Tuesday that he was the buyer of the painting of a nude woman by Amedeo Modigliani that sold for $170.4 million at Christie’s New York on Monday night.

北京——億萬富翁劉益謙曾經當過出租車司機，現在則是一名藝術收藏家。週二他證實，紐約佳士得拍賣行(Christie’s)週一晚以1.704億美元（約10.8億元人民幣）價格拍出的阿梅代奧·莫迪利亞尼(Amedeo Modigliani)的畫作，買主正是自己。

Speaking by telephone from Shanghai, the Chinese collector said he planned to bring the work back to the city, where he and his wife have two private museums.

這位中國收藏家在上海通過電話表示，他計劃把這幅畫帶回上海。他和妻子在那裏有兩座私人美術館。

“We are planning to exhibit it for the museum’s fifth anniversary,” he said. “It will be an opportunity for Chinese art lovers to see good artworks without having to leave the country, which is one of the main reasons why we founded the museums.”

“我們計劃在美術館成立五週年時展出，”他說。“藉此機會讓中國的藝術愛好者無需走出國門，就能看到好的作品，這也是我們開辦美術館的主要原因之一。”

Bidding by telephone, Mr. Liu was one of six people competing for Modigliani’s 1917-18 canvas, “Nu Couché,” during Monday’s auction. The final hammer price of $170.4 million with fees was well above the previous auction record of $70.7 million for a work by Modigliani. With Mr. Liu’s winning bid, the painting became the 10th work of art to reach the elite nine-figure club for works sold at auction.

本週一共有六人競拍莫迪利亞尼1917年至1918年的畫作《側臥的裸女》(Nu Couché)，劉益謙通過電話參加了競拍。1.704億美元的最終成交價，遠高於莫迪利亞尼畫作之前的拍賣紀錄7070萬美元。劉益謙此次拍中後，《側臥的裸女》在“9位數拍賣價精英俱樂部中”排到了第10位。

“Modigliani’s works already have a pretty established value on the market,” Mr. Liu said. “This work is relatively nice compared to his other nude paintings. And his nude paintings have been collected by some of the world’s top museums.”

“莫迪利亞尼的作品在市場上已經有了較高的價值，”劉益謙說。“這幅畫比他的其他裸體畫也更精妙。一些世界一流的美術館已經收藏了他的裸體畫。”

Mr. Liu, who made his fortune through stock trading in the 1980s and ’90s, and his wife, Wang Wei, are two of China’s most visible art collectors. Over the years, they have built a vast collection of both traditional and contemporary Chinese art, much of which is displayed in their two museums in Shanghai: the Long Museum Pudong, which opened in 2012; and the Long Museum West Bund, which opened last year.

劉益謙在上世紀80、90年代通過炒股賺取了財富。他和妻子王薇堪稱中國最知名的兩位藝術品藏家。這些年來，他們收藏了大量中國傳統和現代藝術作品，其中大部分都陳列在他們位於上海的兩座美術館裏，即2012年開幕的龍美術館浦東館，和去年開幕的龍美術館西岸館。

The couple’s collection includes a 15th-century silk hanging, called a thangka, bought by Mr. Liu for $45 million at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong last year. The purchase made headlines when it set the record for a Chinese artwork sold at an international auction.

這對夫妻的藏品中，有一幅15世紀的絲綢唐卡，是劉益謙去年以4500萬美元的價格在香港佳士得的拍賣會上拍得的。當時創下了中國藝術品在國際拍賣會上的最高成交價，受到了媒體的極大關注。

With that purchase, Mr. Liu broke a record he had set months earlier when he paid $36.3 million at a Sotheby’s sale for a tiny Ming dynasty porcelain cup known as a “chicken cup.” Soon after, he caused an uproar after a photograph that showed him sipping tea from the antique cup spread online.

購買唐卡也打破了劉益謙自己在數月之前創下的紀錄。那次他以3630萬美元的價格在蘇富比拍下明代瓷器小件“雞缸杯”。不久後，他用這隻古董杯飲茶的照片被傳到網上，引起一片譁然。

For both record-setting acquisitions, Mr. Liu reportedly paid with an American Express credit card, earning him many millions of reward points. “Nu Couché” will be the most expensive artwork in the couple’s collection, Mr. Liu said. But when asked whether he planned to pay with the credit card again, Mr. Liu demurred.

在那兩次創紀錄的拍賣中，劉益謙都使用了美國運通(American Express)信用卡付款，獲得了數百萬獎勵積分。劉益謙說，《側臥的裸女》將是夫婦倆收藏的最昂貴的藝術品。但在被問到是否打算再次用信用卡付款時，劉益謙說不會。

“The payment method will be carried out in accordance with Christie’s guidelines,” he said.

“付款會按照佳士得的說明進行，”他說。