Guy Ullens, whose collection of Chinese contemporary art was one of the most respected in the world, has died. In 2007, alongside wife Myriam, he cofounded the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing to show the work.
Ullens was born in San Francisco into an aristocratic Belgian family, and his career took him through various food and packaging companies until a move into private equity. His wealth was increased considerably with a 1999 buyout and stock pump of Weight Watchers International.
Initially, Ullens bought Chinese antiquities, including scroll paintings from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, but the 1990s saw him attracted to the burgeoning contemporary scene with emerging artists including Ai Weiwei, Huang Yong Ping, Wang Jianwei, Fang Lijun and Xu Zhen and Zeng Fanzhi.
The collection would eventually reach around 2,000 works, and the couple opened their private museum, one of the first in China, in 2007 with the exhibition ’85 New Wave: The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art. In 2017 the couple sold the the institution and it was restructured as the UCCA Group with the non-profit UCCA Foundation partnered by UCCA Enterprises, an art-driven retail venture. In 2018 UCCA Dune opened in the Chinese coastal town of Beidaihe, with a third satellite in Shanghai opening three years later.
In 2023, Nicolas Ullens, Guy’s son from his first marriage, is alleged to have shot his father and stepmother six times following a dispute over inheritance. Myriam was found dead in a car outside the family property in Belgium; Guy had wounds to his legs. Nicolas Ullens is scheduled to stand trial in 2026.
