Taiwanese Mega-Collector Pierre Chen Wants to Open a Private Museum in the Mountains Outside Taipei

The Taiwanese billionaire Pierre Chen wants to open a private museum for his foundation’s art collection in the mountains surrounding Taipei. Chen told the Art Newspaper that he’d like to build it near the Yangmingshan national park, about nine miles north of the city.

“I would like to build a space where I can display the art in the foundation’s collection and perhaps engage in some artistic initiatives and projects for the community,” he told the paper. “It is also in my vision to build a sculpture garden.” He didn’t mention a timeline for the plans.

The collector made his fortune in electronics parts manufacturing, founding the Yageo Corporation in 1977. Today he serves as CEO and presides over the Yageo Foundation, which manages his vast collection of Western and East Asian contemporary art.

Chen started seriously buying art in 1976 and has since amassed a collection that includes works by Daniel Richter, Peter Doig, Marc Quinn, and Richard Serra, according to ArtNews. He also owns 10 works by Gerhard Richter, seven by Picasso, two by Francis Bacon, and recently acquired a sculpture by Alexander Calder. His collection also includes Asian artists including Tan Ting-pho and Cai Guo-Qiang.

In 2015 he loaned several works to the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art. “I believe art should be shared with as many people as possible, so if there is another opportunity for that I would greatly support it,” he said. Perhaps the next time audiences will have the opportunity to admire Chen’s collection will be within the walls of his very own space in the Taipei mountains.

Chen would be the latest in a long line of Asian tycoons opening museums, following the lead of Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur Budi Tek, who opened the Yuz Museum in Shanghai in 2007, and Chinese investor Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei, who established the Long Museum, also in Shanghai, in 2012.