Ken Chu (LLD) is the chairman and CEO of Mission Hills Group, with businesses in hospitality, leisure, entertainment, sports, wellness and education in China.
A Vincent van Gogh painting not shown publicly for more than 60 years recently drew hundreds of people to Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Painted in May 1890, Châtaigniers en fleurs (Chestnut Trees in Flower) is a major work from his Auvers-sur-Oise period and could set an auction record.
For three days, Sotheby’s opened the private collection to public viewing in Hong Kong. Its brief stay raises a question about the city’s art hub ambitions: what lasting expertise can be built around a masterpiece that would soon leave?
A global art hub depends on the expertise and businesses that make the trade possible: authentication, conservation, insurance, finance, logistics and exhibition. Hong Kong has important advantages, from its free port tradition and common law system to major auction houses, galleries and institutions.