A new big museum in China designed by Tadao Ando has just been inaugurated.
It was fully funded by a world champion of air conditioning manufacturer.
While, all over the world, museums remain desperately closed, that some, especially in the United States, are forced to sell pieces from their collections to meet their expenses for lack of visitors, China continues to inaugurate new establishments. These initiatives are not only due to the altruism of the super rich, but especially to the fact that when developing a vast real estate project in China, the state also requires that they add cultural institutions to the mix.
The new museum opened on October 1 in the region of Canton, in Shunde, 16,000 m2 which according to the photos, seems extraordinary. The He Art Museum is funded by the He family from Beijao in Guangdong province. Father He Xiangjian, who founded Midea Group in 1968, and who made his fortune in air conditioners and household appliances, is now the fifth largest Chinese fortune and weighs 36.1 billion dollars according to Forbes. He went out of business in 2012. In June 2020 he was the victim of an attempted kidnapping.
The He family has been collecting for 10 years and within the Chinese market the He Art Museum is considered one of the biggest buyers in the country today. The acquisition budget could be around $ 50 million annually. The museum's collections contain three parts: one is devoted to modern Chinese art from Canton, another to contemporary Chinese art after 1989 and a third to world art from Picasso to today. When it comes to Western art, “the owners have come to know some of the big names they like, such as Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh. These artists have an educational interest for the local public.
The most original in the organization of the He Art Museum is the principle of selection of works from the collection. A research group within the museum, made up of four people, makes suggestions for acquisitions, supplemented by the advice of outside figures who belong to the art market and who change every year. Next March is scheduled the first major exhibition dedicated to "Tadao Ando, art and life" including 10 artists like Lee Ufan, Ellsworth Kelly, Pablo Picasso and Richard Long. What makes the museum even more unique is the fact the owner of the museum, unlike others in China who are attracted by capital gains, does not intend to resell his collection.
We can’t wait to travel again. China bound.
He Art Museum - Website
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