The 2026 Yongle Spring Auction will grandly open on June 21 at the Phoenix Center in Beijing, featuring a magnificent lineup of modern and contemporary art, with over 180 high-quality collectibles.

Looking back on the development of modern and contemporary Chinese art over the past century, from the early 20th century when artists went abroad to explore the integration of Chinese and Western art, to the vigorous development of artistic thought and the diversification of creation after the reform and opening up, and then to the new century when artists based themselves on a global perspective and consciously reshaped their cultural identity and artistic language, the development over the past century has been clear and profound.

The contemporary art auction unfolds the complete development path of Chinese contemporary art from "the introduction of modernity" to "the self-awareness of contemporaryity" by examining the three dimensions of the works' art historical value, lineage, and long-term collection potential, bringing a dialogue across a century of art to collectors at home and abroad.

I. Pioneers of the 20th Century (Frontier Figures of Modern and Contemporary Times)

Wu Guanzhong's "Dragon Beard Island"

Wu Guanzhong was one of the earliest advocates and practitioners of the theory of "formal beauty" in the history of modern Chinese art. He dedicated his life to the practice and theoretical construction of the nationalization of oil painting. As one of the most representative blue-chip artists among Chinese modernist artists, his works are among the top tier in terms of market recognition and circulation. More importantly, Wu Guanzhong was extremely cautious about the circulation of his works during his lifetime. Works authenticated by him and accompanied by recordings and photographs possess extremely strong authentication value and scarcity in the market.

This work was completed during a sketching trip to Longxu Island in Rongcheng, Shandong Province in 1976, which was a crucial juncture in his transition from realist oil painting to formal composition, and has a clear periodic significance for his personal creative trajectory.

The painting features a massive reef as its main element, occupying nearly two-thirds of the canvas. The cool-toned sea and sky juxtapose with the warm-colored houses, creating striking color blocks. Scattered fishing boats break the monotony of the color blocks with dotted lines. At this time, Wu Guanzhong had already begun to consciously move away from representational depiction. His rock-texturing technique absorbed the brushwork tradition of Chinese landscape painting, combining the malleability of oil paint with calligraphic lines. This represents an early practice of his theory of "formal beauty" in his creative work. The seemingly random details in the painting, such as fishing nets and anchors, are actually meticulously crafted visual elements, achieving an initial liberation of abstract form within a realistic framework.

The work was first sold at the China Guardian Autumn Auction in 2006 and purchased by the then-collector. In 2008, the collector brought the original work to Wu Guanzhong's home for authentication, and the authentication recording and a photo of the two parties are preserved. Subsequently, it was included in the Long Museum's special catalogue and related publications of the Wu Guanzhong Memorial Hall. In 2024, the work was exhibited in the Long Museum's academic exhibition of the same name, "Wu Guanzhong: All Light".

With complete documentation regarding publications, exhibitions, provenance, and authentication by the artist during his lifetime, this work boasts one of the most complete provenance among Wu Guanzhong's 1970s oil sketches. As a key testament to Wu Guanzhong's transitional period, this piece possesses significant art historical narrative value and is suitable for inclusion in top-tier museums and important private collections. rtproglobal.com/c/d6a9d27800b4a4a01d172c9dbaefd62c?
 

Chang Yu's "Pink Roses in a White Porcelain Vase"

Chang Yu was one of the earliest artists in the history of modern Chinese art to reconstruct the Western still-life painting tradition with the spirit of Eastern aesthetics. His works hold an irreplaceable position in the exploration of "Western learning for Chinese application" in early 20th-century Chinese oil painting. This work was completed in 1931, during Chang Yu's "Rose Period" in Paris. It is a representative work from the peak of his still-life creation and has exemplary significance for understanding Chang Yu's artistic language in the 1930s.

An elegant white porcelain vase is set against a backdrop of expansive pink roses, with dark branches and leaves becoming the focal point of the painting. Chang Yu uses oil paints to create the texture of ink wash, incorporating the Eastern concept of negative space into Matisse's color relationships, and reconstructing the viewing logic of Western still life painting with minimalist arrangement of objects.

The vase in the painting has distinct Chinese aesthetic features of still life, while the color treatment continues the lyricism of the Paris School. The tension between the two on the canvas is the most recognizable linguistic feature of Sanyu's still life works.

Sanyu is one of the most watched Chinese blue-chip artists in the global market. His works have consistently maintained high prices in Paris, New York, and Hong Kong, and his international recognition is unparalleled among early Chinese oil painters. Crucially, Sanyu's supporters in Paris during his lifetime were many important figures in the French art world, the most influential being Henri-Pierre Roché—a writer and art dealer with deep connections to modern masters such as Picasso and Braque, whose collecting standards represented the highest in the French art world. The fact that Sanyu's works have been preserved intact after his death and entered the international art history narrative is directly related to the involvement of these early French collectors. Clear provenance from renowned French collectors is a significant endorsement and a valuable asset for his works.

This piece was auctioned at Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction in 2007 and again at China Guardian Autumn Auction in 2018. It is also included in the "Complete Works of Sanyu's Oil Paintings" compiled by the Yageo Foundation. With a complete provenance and clear history, it is one of the few important original works from Sanyu's 1930s Rose Period still circulating in the market, making it suitable for museums and important private collections.

Yan Wenliang's "Peach Blossom Village in Suzhou"

Yan Wenliang, along with Xu Beihong, Liu Haisu, and Lin Fengmian, is known as one of the "Four Great Principals" of early Chinese oil painting. He served as the principal of the Suzhou Academy of Fine Arts and was one of the important founders of modern Chinese art education. His practice of introducing Impressionist light and color science into Chinese oil painting teaching holds a clear place in the history of art education and creation. This work, completed in 1940, was during the in-depth stage of his exploration of the localization of Impressionism. It depicts the Taohuawu water town in Suzhou with precise perspective and is a representative work of his research on light and shadow.

In the foreground, stone bridges span flowing water, boats float on the water, and houses dot the landscape; in the distance, distant mountains are shrouded in a thin mist. Yan Wenliang observed and reproduced natural light with an almost scientific approach, juxtaposing European color optics research findings into color dots on the canvas, blending them with the gray-toned atmosphere of the Jiangnan water towns. This meticulous consideration of light and color imbues his works with a unique, calm quality among Republican-era oil paintings, representing a typical achievement of his localization of Impressionism.

The work was included in the magazine "Chinese Oil Painting" and several professional art collections in 1995. The publication information is complete, the provenance is clear, and the condition is excellent. As a representative work of an early Republican-era oil painting educator, this work has clear art historical narrative value and is suitable for collection by museums and academic institutions to supplement the documentary lineage of early Chinese oil painting exploration of light and color.

Guan Liang's "Flowers in a Vase"

The painting does not aim for realistic reproduction. The vase is shaped like a child's drawing, and the flowers are painted with full blocks of color. The overall composition is spacious with ample white space. This "rustic charm" is Guan Liang's lifelong aesthetic pursuit—to restore the simple and unadorned atmosphere of Chinese folk art in oil painting materials, which is consistent with the modeling logic of the opera figures he painted.

Lin Fengmian's "Wild Geese Soaring Among Reeds"

Yu Ben's "Spring in Jiangnan"

II. Contemporary Mainstay (First-tier artists born in the 1950s-1970s)

Zeng Fanzhi's "Wheat Field"

Zeng Fanzhi is one of the most recognized blue-chip artists in the Chinese contemporary art market. His "Random Brushstrokes" series has consistently maintained a solid sales record and a broad collector base in the secondary market. Crucially, Zeng Fanzhi was one of the first Chinese contemporary artists to have his works systematically collected by international public museums. His works are included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musée d'Art Moderne d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, providing a strong foundation for his market position. This work, invited to be exhibited by the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands, is the largest piece in his series on dialogue between Chinese and Western art and is of key value in understanding Zeng Fanzhi's creative shift in the late 2010s.

The painting reconstructs Van Gogh's classic wheat field imagery with intertwined, chaotic lines. The brushstrokes no longer serve to shape form but become independent, flowing visual energy. In this work, Zeng Fanzhi completely liberates the lines from the objects, allowing them to grow, intertwine, and overlap autonomously on the canvas, forming an almost abstract visual field. This exploration of the essence of brushstrokes shifts his creative focus from "figurative painting" to "painting itself," making this a representative work of the most mature stage of his "chaotic brush" series.

Included in the catalogue of the Van Gogh Museum's concurrent exhibition, this work serves as important material evidence of Sino-Western art exchange, with a clearly traceable provenance. Zeng Fanzhi's "Random Brushstrokes" series has a long creation period, and the number of large-scale original works in existence is limited. Works with the endorsement of participation in international public museums are more sought after by institutional collectors. As a representative work of Zeng Fanzhi's collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum, this piece possesses clear art historical narrative value and is suitable for inclusion in top-tier museums and important private collections.

Zhou Chunya's "Spring Scarlet Reflecting Green"

Zhou Chunya is one of the most recognized blue-chip artists in contemporary Chinese painting. Since its inception in 2005, his "Peach Blossom" series has consistently been the most widely accepted and actively traded core segment of his work. 2009 was a pivotal year for this series, marking its transition from exploration to maturity. The large-scale retrospective exhibition held by Zhou Chunya in Switzerland that year further solidified his international recognition, and this work serves as a typical summary of this stage of his "Peach Blossom" series.

The brushstrokes of the peach blossoms in the foreground are full yet relaxed, and the colors have shifted from the intense reds and greens of his earlier works to a juxtaposition of warm pinks and greens. The distant rivers and lakes are rendered with light washes of color, achieving a new balance between freehand and abstract expression in the pictorial space. In this work, Zhou Chunya blends the brushwork strength of German Neo-Expressionism with the freehand spirit of traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting, transforming the traditional subject of "peach blossoms" from the conventions of Ming and Qing literati painting into a visual symbol with contemporary tension.

The work was exhibited at the Taipei Chung Cheng Art Exhibition in 2022 and included in the exhibition catalog. "Peach Blossoms" is Zhou Chunya's most recognized classic series, and original works over 2 meters in size are relatively rare in the market. This work is large in scale and has warm colors. It is a representative large-scale work of Zhou Chunya's mature period with peach blossoms, and has clear collection value. It is suitable for private museums or large spaces for display and collection, and can also be included in institutional collections as an important case of Zhou Chunya's "Peach Blossoms" series.

Liu Ye, "Composition of Squares No. 2"

Liu Ye is one of the most stylistically distinctive artists in Chinese contemporary painting during the 1990s. His work establishes a unique tension between rational composition and childlike imagery, giving him an irreplaceable position among the current elite artists. In 1998, shortly after Liu Ye returned from studying in Germany, his artistic language underwent a crucial shaping. The "Grid Composition" series is a representative work from this formative period, serving as a model for understanding Liu Ye's stylistic development in the late 1990s.

The specially designed diamond-shaped frame is the signature feature of this work, breaking away from the square and round frames that Liu Ye most often uses, creating an "unexpected" effect in its form itself. In the blue and white checkered space, a girl wearing retro sunglasses stands quietly, a coexistence of rational composition and gentle childlike whimsy. In this work, Liu Ye juxtaposes Mondrian's geometric abstraction, Dick Bruna's cartoonish simplicity, and Chinese-style subtle emotions, allowing the image to reveal a delicate narrative tension within its calm formal order.

This work was exhibited at the Beijing Soka Art Center in 2015 and later included in "The Complete Works of Liu Ye". In the secondary market, Liu Ye's early 1990s works are relatively rare. This piece is small in size and included in the artist's complete works, with complete provenance and documentation. As a representative work from Liu Ye's stylistic formative period, this work possesses clear art historical and collectible value, making it suitable for private collectors systematically collecting contemporary Chinese paintings from the 1990s.

Chen Yifei's "Morning Light"

Chen Yifei was a pioneer in bringing Chinese realist oil painting to the international stage. His works created before his move to the United States in the early 1980s represent the most technically refined and serene period of his artistic career. This particular work comes from the Hammer Galleries in New York, Chen Yifei's exclusive agent in the North American market. It comes with a gallery guarantee and an official certificate of authenticity from the Chen Yifei Estate, making its provenance extremely authoritative and significantly enhancing its market value.

The painting borrows Rembrandt's sidelighting technique to depict the Jiangnan water towns, with soft morning light spreading across the river and houses, balancing Western classical light and shadow with the restrained artistic conception of Chinese style. In this work, Chen Yifei completely abandoned the heavy tones of his "Scar Art" period, turning to a more lyrical narrative of Jiangnan. The painting's atmosphere is calm and restrained, which is significantly different from his more commercially oriented "Water Town" series after he went to the United States. It is one of his more academically recognized works from the 1980s.

The artwork is sourced from the Hammer Gallery in New York and comes with an official certificate of authenticity from the Chen Yifei Estate. Its provenance is clear, its condition is excellent, and it possesses significant collectible value.

Zhang Enli's "Bathroom"

Zhang Enli is a Chinese artist signed with Hauser & Wirth Gallery. His work has successfully shifted from still life subjects to spatial and conceptual expressions, giving him a unique academic position in contemporary Chinese painting. 2009 was a pivotal year in his creative trajectory, and this work marks his transition from depicting "objects" to creating "space." It is an important early work in his "Spatial Painting" series and is of typical value for understanding Zhang Enli's stylistic transformation in the late 2000s.

The painter depicts an old bathroom from a bird's-eye view, with its mottled walls and simple sanitary ware, subtly conveying the atmosphere of daily life through the traces of use in the space. In this work, Zhang Enli reduces the modeling ability of oil painting to an almost monochromatic flat wash, recording the space itself with extremely restrained brushstrokes, rather than the objects within it. This "de-narrative" approach marks a significant turning point in his creative process, shifting his work from still-life sketches to conceptual spatial records.

The work was exhibited in a group exhibition at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai in 2015. International institutions such as the Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou also hold his works in their collections. This piece, a landmark work from his stylistic transition period, has a clear academic lineage. As a dividing line between Zhang Enli's shift from still life to spatial subjects, this work possesses clear art historical value and is suitable for collection by museums and academic institutions focusing on the shift in contemporary Chinese painting concepts.

Shi Chong, Untitled

Shi Chong is one of the pioneers of the "conceptual realism" direction in contemporary Chinese art. His path of using hyperrealistic techniques to express concepts holds a unique academic position in contemporary Chinese painting since the 1990s. 2004 marked a deepening phase in his "Wrapped Man" series. This work, employing an extremely rare narrow vertical format, is representative of his extreme experiments in conceptual realism.

The long, narrow vertical scroll depicts a human body wrapped in plastic film. The transparent material creates a sense of isolation and oppression, exploring the modern human condition through hyperrealism. In this work, Shi Chong transforms the performance art language of "wrapping" into the language of painting, making hyperrealism no longer a means of representing the object, but a vehicle for conveying ideas. The long, narrow vertical format further intensifies the sense of oppression, giving the viewer an almost suffocating visual experience in the vertical direction.

The work was exhibited at Chambers Fine Art in New York in 2004 and is an important piece in his "Wrapped Man" series. Shi Chong's conceptual realist works have a large number of professional collectors, and original works that have been exhibited in important galleries overseas have always received significant attention from academic collectors.

Yan Ping's "Deep Night"

Yan Ping is a representative figure among contemporary Chinese female artists. Her creative approach, which uses the language of freehand oil painting to express intimate emotions and everyday scenes, has a lasting academic influence within the creative lineage of female artists. 2008 marked the mature stage of her "Little Opera Troupe" series. This work, measuring 180×200cm, is one of the largest pieces in the series and is of typical significance for understanding Yan Ping's creative breakthroughs in the late 2000s.

The work focuses on backstage life in a traditional opera troupe, with interwoven blocks of magenta and light blue, and unrestrained brushstrokes depicting the actors' relaxed state. In this work, Yan Ping completely breaks down the stylized forms of opera figures, using almost abstract brushstrokes to record the direct collision of color and emotion. The seemingly random juxtaposition of color blocks in the painting is actually a meticulously crafted emotional rhythm. The large-scale treatment further unleashes the expressive power of the brushstrokes, bringing his impressionistic oil painting language to a new level of intensity.

Wang Yuping, "Jinding Bridge (Diptych)" 

Wang Yuping is currently a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. His creative work centers on plein air painting. Against the backdrop of contemporary painting becoming increasingly conceptual and image-based, he insists on refining his painting language from real observation, forming a unique style that is both simple and poetic. 2022 marked a deepening phase in his "Beijing Plein Air" series. This work, employing a horizontal composition reminiscent of a Chinese handscroll, is a representative work of his longer plein air creations and is of typical significance for understanding the value of Wang Yuping's urban record-keeping practice in recent years.

As a representative work of Wang Yuping in recent years, the work was exhibited at the Shanghai Baolong Art Museum in 2024 and is an important work in his recent "Beijing Sketches" series.

The work employs a horizontal composition reminiscent of a Chinese handscroll, with an acrylic base complemented by free-flowing oil pastel lines, fully capturing the everyday life of the Jin Ding Bridge area around Shichahai. It originates from the artist's on-site sketches. In this work, Wang Yuping completely abandons his academic training in form, using almost childlike, simple lines to record urban daily life. The seemingly clumsy brushstrokes are actually the result of a "mature yet natural" skill honed through long-term sketching practice, perfectly matching the urban character of old Beijing.

III. The Power of Youth (Emerging Artists from the Post-70s to Post-90s Generations)

Jia Aili's *Holiday in Montauk*

Jia Aili, represented globally by Gagosian, is one of the most internationally recognized and established contemporary Chinese oil painters. His creative peak coincided with his solo exhibition "Burning" at Gagosian's New York space in 2019-2020, and this work is the central piece of that exhibition. The large-scale painting combines the natural scenery of Montauk, Long Island with surreal imagery, and is a quintessential representation of his "Holiday" series.

The massive canvas combines the natural scenery of Montauk, Long Island with surreal imagery, creating a unique atmosphere through rich textures and shifting colors. In this work, Jia Aili juxtaposes figurative landscapes with surreal figures, achieving an unstable balance between realism and fantasy. This "uncertainty" is the core tension of his work. The enormous size further amplifies this tension, enveloping the viewer in a visual field that is both real and illusory.

The work was exhibited as a core piece in Jia Aili's solo exhibition at Gagosian, with comprehensive academic and exhibition documentation. Jia Aili's works have consistently performed well in the markets of New York, London, and Hong Kong; the large-scale works exhibited are extremely limited in circulation and have garnered significant attention from international collectors. As a key piece in Jia Aili's solo exhibition at Gagosian, this work possesses extremely high art historical and collectible value, making it suitable for inclusion in top-tier museums and important private collections.

Huang Yuxing's "Sunrise in the East"

Huang Yuxing is one of the most market-popular artists in the post-70s abstract art genre. His creative approach, which uses multiple layers of fluorescent pigments to create light and color imagery, is uniquely distinctive in contemporary Chinese painting. 2016 marked the peak of his "Sunrise" series, with many works from the same series being collected by public institutions such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum and the Long Museum. Both academic recognition and market prices showed a steady upward trend, representing a typical creative stage before he entered the blue-chip tier of artists.

Multiple layers of fluorescent pigments flow and overlap to create the imagery of sunrise, deconstructing the traditional landscape and transforming it into halos and flowing color blocks, building a personal language between figuration and abstraction. In this work, Huang Yuxing juxtaposes the chemical properties of fluorescent pigments with the manual nature of painting, making the picture present a completely different visual state under ultraviolet light than under normal light. This conscious intervention in the "viewing conditions" has shifted his creation from simple landscape abstraction to an exploration of perception itself, which is a key characteristic of his mature period of light and color abstraction.

Several works in the same series have been collected by public institutions such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum and the Long Museum. As a representative large-scale work from Huang Yuxing's mature period of light and color abstraction, this work has clear art historical and collection value and is suitable for top museums and important private collections.

Sun Yitian, "Soft Hammer (A Set of Two)"

Sun Yitian is one of the most representative post-90s artists in China. Her works use hyperrealistic techniques to depict everyday consumer goods, reflecting on contemporary consumer symbol culture through visual conflict, and she holds a unique academic position among young artists. 2018 marked the beginning of her "Artificial Objects" series, and this work, as an early key piece in the series, has a clear periodic significance in her creative development and is also an important creative milestone before entering the secondary market.

This diptych depicts an inflatable soft hammer using hyperrealistic techniques, creating a strong visual conflict between the hard prototype of the tool and the soft texture of the plastic. In this work, Sun Yitian shifts the hyperrealistic technique from the traditional "representation of the object" to "representation of the simulacra of representation"—the inflatable toy itself is a replica of the real tool, and the painting hyperrealistically reproduces the replica. This nested structure of triple simulacra creates a tension between visual allure and conceptual austerity, which is the core linguistic feature of his "Man-made Objects" series.

The work was exhibited at the Shanghai West Bund Art & Design Fair in 2019, represented by BANK Gallery, and is a key piece in the artist's early "Artificial Objects" series. Sun Yitian possesses abundant cross-disciplinary resources and high-quality exhibition resources. The secondary market performance is still in the early stages of value appreciation. The complete diptych is scarce and suitable for museums and private collectors who are interested in emerging Chinese art from the post-90s generation.

Liu Xiaohui, Untitled - Corridor

Liu Xiaohui is a representative artist in the contemporary Chinese "New Painting" movement. His works explore the relationship between painting and time by repeatedly depicting the same scene and the same figures, giving him a unique academic identity among the younger generation of artists. This work, completed intermittently over six years, is one of the largest pieces in his "Corridor" series and is of exemplary significance for understanding Liu Xiaohui's creative methodology in the late 2010s.

A figure in white stands with their back to the viewer in a narrow, empty corridor. The low-saturation colors create a sense of bewilderment and tranquility, while the faceless figure lends the painting a philosophical metaphor. In this work, Liu Xiaohui takes the act of "depicting" itself as the theme—the corridor is a transitional space, the figure with their back to the viewer is the unfinished subject, and the six-year intermittent creative process makes the work a trace of time itself.

Works from the same series are collected by institutions such as the National Art Museum of China and UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. Liu Xiaohui's solo exhibitions and institutional collections have been gaining popularity in recent years, but market prices have not yet fully matched his academic positioning, and the long creation cycle also brings a natural scarcity.

Chen Ke's *Bauhaus Girl No. 10*

Chen Ke is one of the representatives of young Chinese female artists in the international market in recent years. She looks back at female creators who have been overlooked by art history through portraiture and has a unique narrative position among the younger generation of artists.

2021 marked the deepening of her "Bauhaus Girl" series. This work features a warm yellow background with light washes of color on the figures, creating a tranquil yet slightly melancholic atmosphere with soft brushstrokes.

In this work, Chen Ke juxtaposes the historical image of female creators in the Bauhaus with the self-awareness of contemporary women. The girl in the picture is neither a restoration of a historical portrait nor a self-portrait of the present, but a "ghost subject" suspended between two times. This way of intervening in the narrative of women's art history makes her creation shift from personal lyricism to the reconstruction of collective memory. This is the core proposition of the "Bauhaus Girl" series.

Chen Ke is represented globally by Perrotin. Her works were exhibited in a solo exhibition of the same name at Perrotin Shanghai in 2021. Chen Ke's international market is steadily expanding, and the global demand for art collection among women continues to grow, making her a worthy long-term collector.

Wang Fanseng'snest"Shi Pingyuan" and "The Banquet"

Wang Fanseng is a newly signed young artist with Perrotin. His work has evolved from borrowing traditional Chinese landscape layouts and incorporating fantasy and surreal elements in his early works to recently shifting towards constructing wasteland scenes with bright industrial color blocks, giving him a unique identity among the new generation of fantasy painters. The two works belong to two key creative phases of his work. "Nestled Rocks and Distant Views" is a typical representative of his early fantasy landscape language, while "Dinner Party" is a key work after his recent creative shift, thus presenting a coherent trajectory of the artist's stylistic evolution from 2011 to 2023.

"Drinking Feast" was selected for the 2026 Perrotin Shanghai solo exhibition. The two works together present the artist's stylistic trajectory from early fantasy landscapes to modern color block creations.

With Wang Fanseng's international exposure continuing to increase, these two works, as a testament to the continuity of Wang Fanseng's creative trajectory across different periods, possess clear art historical and collection value and are suitable for museums that focus on emerging Chinese artists and forward-thinking private collectors to acquire.

View more lots in the online catalog.

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