At 19:30 on May 24, 2025, Kaipai International's "Kaipai Fifth Anniversary Spring Auction - Modern and Contemporary Art" was held as scheduled in Beijing.The total transaction amount of 92 lots in this auction reached more than 74.37 million yuan, with a total transaction rate of 96%, of which 24% of the lots were sold above the estimated price and 72% of the lots were sold within the estimated price.Chang Shuhong's "Grandma" was sold for 5.175 million yuan, becoming the highest-paid work in this auction.

New Record:
Many artists including Kang Haitao, Ni Youyu, Bian Shaozhi, Yan Bingqing, Zhou Siwei, Zhuang Huayue, Yun Yongye and others set new personal records;
Friedrich Einhof, Zhang Hui, Li Xiangyang, Du Jingze and many other artists set new second-highest prices for artists;
Huang Xianzhi, Liu Haichen and many other artists set new records for the third highest price for an artist;
 

TOP1 of this transaction:

Chang Shuhong's "Grandma" was sold for 4.5 million yuan, plus commission of 5.175 million yuan.

TOP2 of this transaction:

Wei Tianlin's "Peony and Loquat" was sold for 3.8 million yuan, plus commission of 4.37 million yuan.

Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist’s family.

Wei Tianlin is one of the important pioneers of modern Chinese oil painting. He studied in Japan in his early years and studied under Takeji Fujishima. He was deeply influenced by Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. After returning to China, he combined Western modern painting techniques with traditional Chinese aesthetics, forming a unique style with rich colors, unrestrained brushstrokes and full of oriental charm. Still life painting is an important subject of his creation. He is particularly good at expressing his deep understanding of life and nature through daily objects such as flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Peony and Loquat is one of Wei Tianlin’s representative still life paintings in his later years. The painting is dominated by a bouquet of blooming peonies, paired with a plate of bright red cherries and golden loquats, forming a full and warm visual symphony. “Peony” is a theme that Wei Tianlin likes to paint and often paints, from “White Peony” created in 1930 to “White Peony in a Blue and White Porcelain Vase” in 1976.Currently, there are more than 20 still life works with peony as the theme.

In this painting, Peony and Loquat, the delicate beauty of the peony contrasts with the richness and brightness of the fruit. The thick oil paint creates a rich texture, which not only reflects the color expression of Western Impressionism, but also contains the pursuit of "interest in things" by Chinese literati paintings. The whole work is filled with a vigorous breath of life, showing the artist's consummate painting language in his later years.

TOP3 transactions in this session:

Kang Haitao's "Tree" was sold for 3.1 million yuan, plus commission of 3.565 million yuan.

This work, "Trees", created in 2016, continues Kang Haitao's "night scene paintings". In the picture, two clusters of trees emerge in the night in a hazy form. The trees on the left are glowing with a cold fluorescence, while the right side gradually fades into darkness. Nature exhales quiet energy between flickering.

Kang Haitao applies layers of extremely thin acrylic paint, which not only retains the transparency of ink painting, but also creates a heavy sense of volume through overlapping brushstrokes, just like the "ink accumulation" technique in traditional landscape painting, accumulating profound layers in restraint.

It is worth noting that the contours of the creative process can be vaguely seen under the surface of the picture. These traces that have not completely disappeared are not flaws, but "time evidence" that Kang Haitao intentionally retained. They reveal the artist's process of finding a balance in repeated adjustments - the transparency of acrylic allows each layer of color and line to penetrate each other, and finally form a state between completion and unfinished. This openness of the technique just echoes Kang Haitao's understanding of nature: trees are not solidified objects, but dynamic existences interwoven with light, shadow, and time.

Several artists set new auction records

Other sold lots:

In addition to the top three most expensive lots, the auction also includes many masterpieces by Chinese and Western artists, including Wu Guanzhong, Yu Youhan, He Duoling, Chang Shuhong, Wang Guangle, Zhou Bichu, Sha Qi and other artists.

Please continue to follow ArtPro for more latest developments in the global art market.

For more details on the auction items, please click on the special session