Why this Chinese artist is outselling Van Gogh

A master of classical Chinese painting who later reimagined modern art in his adopted American homeland, Zhang's work spanned traditions from ink landscapes to abstraction. In April, almost 40 years after his death, Zhang's 1947 painting "Landscape after Wang Ximeng" became his most expensive work ever to sell at auction, fetching $47 million at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. It was just the latest in a string of major sales. As well as honing his figurative painting skills, Zhang soon started using a broader range of opulent colors in his work, reviving their popularity in Chinese art "Virtually single handedly," Johnson said. Usually seen in long robes and sporting a flowing white beard - even decades after moving to the US - he attributed his new style to the ancient painter Wang Mo. But it was clear Zhang was at least partly inspired by American abstract painters like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. According to Ip, who has overseen several sales of Zhang's work, demand for his paintings is largely driven by Chinese buyers who now have "More mature" collecting habits. According to Ip, it has historically been Zhang's later abstract works, rather than his more traditional paintings made in China, that have attracted the largest sums. According to Johnson, Zhang even attended an exhibition of Shitao's paintings in the 1960s, only to reveal at the opening symposium that he had painted some of the art on display.