Li Keran

Life & Legacy

Li Keran (Chinese: 李可染; Wade–Giles: Li K'o-jan; 26 March 1907 – 5 December 1989), art name Sanqi, was a contemporary Chinese guohua painter and art educator. Considered one of the most important Chinese artists in the latter half of the 20th century, he was also an influential professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts where he taught a generation of Chinese artists. Although trained in Western oil painting, he was known for his traditional literati paintings with influences from Qi Baishi and Huang Binhong, two renowned masters in Chinese painting.
Li's paintings are highly valued at auctions, with several fetching hundreds of millions of yuan. His personal auction record was set by Thousands of Hills in a Crimsoned View (also translated as Landscape in Red), one of his most celebrated works, which sold for CN¥293.25 million (US$46 million) in June 2012.