Wong, who was born in Toronto in 1984 and lived in Hong Kong, Canada and the US throughout his life, had been painting and drawing seriously only since 2013. He suffered from Tourette’s syndrome and depression, and, according to his mother, spoke about his struggles.

Although his paintings are full of glorious colour, critics have pointed to a haunting melancholy within them. Wong’s first breakthrough was in 2015, when he had a small solo exhibition at the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre. But it was after his debut show in New York in 2018 that his works first increased dramatically in price. Since his death, sums paid for his works have shown a meteoric rise.

Wong’s paintings have a history of fetching high prices at auction. River at Dusk (2018) sold for US $4.9 million in December 2020 at a Phillips auction, achieving nearly four times its estimate. Previous to that, The Realm of Appearances (2018) sold for more than 22 times its estimate, reaching US$1.8 million at a Sotheby’s sale.

2. Stephen Wong Chun-hei: Tai Tung Shan (From Pak Kung Au to Mui Wo Pier) (2018)

Taking his auction debut by storm, Hong Kong artist Stephen Wong Chun-hei surpassed expectations with a sale price of more than four times the upper estimate for his oil on canvas diptych, Tai Tung Shan (From Pak Kung Au to Mui Wo Pier). The painting sold for US$128,100 (HK$1 million) in a sale by Christie’s Hong Kong in December 2022.

Set across two panels measuring 200cm by 150cm each, the work is a vivid and detailed portrayal of Hong Kong’s third-highest peak, Tai Tung Shan.

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Hailed as “Hong Kong’s David Hockney”, Stephen Wong is known for his landscape paintings, which combine realism with imagination, giving a sense of mystery to the scenes. His works often seem familiar, but out of place, with perspectives tilted or a dazzling palette of colours that suggest the unreal.

Born in 1986, Wong graduated in fine art from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2008. He takes long hiking trips out into the countryside with a sketchbook, capturing scenes en route. He then recreates the scenes in paint back in his studio, exploring themes around nature and our place in it, and human perception and representation.

3. Wucius Wong: Sky-Land Expression 1 (2007)

In ink and colour on silk, this hanging scroll diptych more than doubled its estimate at a sale by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2016. The final hammer rang out at US$111,500 (HK$875,000) for the work, which measures 200cm by 200cm.

Wong was born in 1936 in Guangdong but grew up in Hong Kong. He began studying Chinese ink painting in 1958 under the tutelage of Lui Shou-kwan (1919-1975), who pioneered the “New Ink” art movement which sought to move beyond traditional Asian ink painting to a more minimalist and contemporary style.

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Wong became a leading proponent of the movement, and joined the One Art Group, Hong Kong’s most important ink art collective that was established in 1971 based on Lui’s ideas. In Sky-Land Expression 1, Wong’s use of colour enlivens the traditional art form.

Wong co-founded the Modern Literature and Art Association, and organised the 1st Hong Kong International Salon of Paintings in 1960.

He studied in the US before returning to Hong Kong to take up a lecturing position at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), then Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is now an adjunct professor of CUHK’s Department of Fine Arts and continues to be a leading figure in the Hong Kong art establishment.

4. Luis Chan: Shore (1980)

Fetching almost three times its expected price, this work in ink and colour on paper was sold by Poly International Auction House in 2011 for just over US$106,000.

Also known as Fushan Chen, Luis Chan Fook-sin (1905-1995) was born in Panama and moved to Hong Kong in 1910 aged five. He first started painting Hong Kong in the late 1920s, using techniques of English landscape watercolour painting. As Hong Kong changed, so did his style, evolving from surreal Chinese ink landscapes to outlandish portraits, and from collage to daring experimentation in “action” painting.

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By the 1960s, his works had become dreamscapes that drew on psychedelic themes and motifs to communicate the identity and subconscious drives of the post-war generation. As his life and works spanned the 20th century, they serve as a reflection of the evolution of Hong Kong.

Over a long and prolific career he hosted 47 solo exhibitions – his debut solo show was in 1935, while his final exhibition took place in 1993, when he was 89 years old.