Zao Wou-ki, the abstract painter who has been described as China’s greatest living artist, is at the centre of a bitter legal feud between his third wife and his son from a previous marriage.
At the heart of a battle ripping the family apart lies the contested ownership of eight works worth millions of dollars.
The son, Zhao Jia-Ling, also believes that Zao, who is 91 and has suffered from Alzheimer’s disease since at least 2005, was moved to Switzerland last year against his will.
The Beijing-born artist left China for Paris before the Communist Party took over the country and has been a French citizen since 1964.
“Zao had been in France since 1948, he is very attached to the country and never expressed any desire to leave it,” said his son’s lawyer, Jean-Philippe Hugot.
Zao’s wife, Francoise Marquet, a former curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, stands to inherit a greater part of the artist’s estate than she would have done had they stayed in France.
She asserts that Switzerland offers the best environment for his health and for preserving his assets, both financial and artistic.