Pop star Jay Chou’s Matisse dream comes true with $20m purchase

The Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou is making his mark in the art world, posting on social media that he was the winning bidder for the 1924 Henri Matisse painting, La Séance du Matin, which sold for $20m (with fees) at Sotheby’s New York in June. In a wistful Instagram post, Chou recalled that when he was in Nice in the south of France, he would often stand outside Matisse’s former home, imagining the French artist looking out from his balcony. “I also used to dream about one day being able to collect one of his works from that period in Nice. Never thought that today the dream would actually come true,” he wrote. Chou, whose most memorable songs include Common Jasmine Orange and Sunny Day, is an avid collector, telling CNN in 2021: “I’ve spent almost all my earnings from my concerts on artworks.” Blue-chip names in his collection include Peter Doig and Jean-Michel Basquiat (and now Matisse, of course). It’s turned into a sunny day indeed for Chou.