天价裸女画买主刘益谦 出租车司机到富豪藏家

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——亿万富翁刘益谦曾经当过出租车司机，现在则是一名艺术收藏家。周二他证实，纽约佳士得拍卖行(Christie’s)周一晚以1.704亿美元（约10.8亿元人民币）价格拍出的阿梅代奥·莫迪利亚尼(Amedeo Modigliani)的画作，买主正是自己。

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.

这位中国收藏家在上海通过电话表示，他计划把这幅画带回上海。他和妻子在那里有两座私人美术馆。

“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.”

“我们计划在美术馆成立五周年时展出，”他说。“借此机会让中国的艺术爱好者无需走出国门，就能看到好的作品，这也是我们开办美术馆的主要原因之一。”

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.

本周一共有六人竞拍莫迪利亚尼1917年至1918年的画作《侧卧的裸女》(Nu Couché)，刘益谦通过电话参加了竞拍。1.704亿美元的最终成交价，远高于莫迪利亚尼画作之前的拍卖纪录7070万美元。刘益谦此次拍中后，《侧卧的裸女》在“9位数拍卖价精英俱乐部中”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.”

“莫迪利亚尼的作品在市场上已经有了较高的价值，”刘益谦说。“这幅画比他的其他裸体画也更精妙。一些世界一流的美术馆已经收藏了他的裸体画。”

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.

刘益谦在上世纪80、90年代通过炒股赚取了财富。他和妻子王薇堪称中国最知名的两位艺术品藏家。这些年来，他们收藏了大量中国传统和现代艺术作品，其中大部分都陈列在他们位于上海的两座美术馆里，即2012年开幕的龙美术馆浦东馆，和去年开幕的龙美术馆西岸馆。

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.

这对夫妻的藏品中，有一幅15世纪的丝绸唐卡，是刘益谦去年以4500万美元的价格在香港佳士得的拍卖会上拍得的。当时创下了中国艺术品在国际拍卖会上的最高成交价，受到了媒体的极大关注。

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.

购买唐卡也打破了刘益谦自己在数月之前创下的纪录。那次他以3630万美元的价格在苏富比拍下明代瓷器小件“鸡缸杯”。不久后，他用这只古董杯饮茶的照片被传到网上，引起一片哗然。

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.

在那两次创纪录的拍卖中，刘益谦都使用了美国运通(American Express)信用卡付款，获得了数百万奖励积分。刘益谦说，《侧卧的裸女》将是夫妇俩收藏的最昂贵的艺术品。但在被问到是否打算再次用信用卡付款时，刘益谦说不会。

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

“付款会按照佳士得的说明进行，”他说。