Chinese tycoon Liu Yiqian says he wants to add more Western art to his shopping list

Former Chinese taxi driver-turned tycoon Liu Yiqian first stunned the auction world by snapping up hugely expensive Chinese antiquities, but he is targeting Western masterpieces.

He says it is his “social responsibility” to show them to the mainland’s younger generation.

Liu has become China’s highest profile art collector, hitting headlines with record-breaking buys and an irreverent approach.

His acquisitions have mainly been of Chinese heritage, most famously the tiny Ming Dynasty “Chicken Cup” for which he paid US$36 million in 2014 at Sotheby’s before drinking tea from it – causing a social media meltdown.

However, in a departure from his Chinese collecting spree, last year Liu splashed out on Modigliani’s Nu Couche or “Reclining Nude” for more than US$170 million at Christie’s, the second highest price ever paid at auction for a work of art.