An amazing painting from 1964 by the Chinese artist Li Keran, who lived between 1907 and 1989, has recently been bought for a mind-whopping $46 million, an actual record for a work signed by Keran. Named “Wan Shan Hong Bian”, which roughly stands for “Thousands of Hills in a Crimsoned View”, the painting was put under the hammer and sold at Poly International Auction’s Spring sales.
The painting is actually based on a verse from a poem written in 1925, by Chairman Mao Zedong, called Qin Yuan Chun – Chang. The name translates into “I see thousands of hills in crimsoned view, the woods piling up in deep dye”. The artist has managed to immortalize exactly that landscape, using autumn red, brown and black tones.
We’ve found out that the artist had actually painted seven versions of this one, between 1961 and 1964, the biggest of the 7 having been sold now – it measures 1.31 meters in length and 0.84 meters in width.
From the seven total paintings, three can be found in the National Art Museum of China, the Chinese Painting Academy and Rongbaozhai, 2 are currently owned by Taiwanese collectors, one remained to the artist’s family and the last one, reportedly the most valuable, has recently been sold.
[China Daily]
