Film mogul may store $62m Van Gogh painting in HK

File photo of Van Gogh's 1890 painting "Nature Morte, Vase aux Marguerites et Coquelicots". (Photo/Chinanews.com)

(ECNS) — A Chinese film mogul who just bought a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece for nearly $62 million would face very high taxes if he wanted to bring it back to the Chinese mainland, the Guangdong-based 21st Century Business Herald reports.

Wang Zhongjun, chairman of the high-powered Huayi Brothers film studio, bought Van Gogh's 1890 painting "Nature Morte, Vase aux Marguerites et Coquelicots" on Tuesday for $61.8 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York.

China usually imposes import duties of more than 30 percent on art pieces and sometimes as much as 75 percent, which has long discouraged foreign galleries, art dealers and collectors from entering the country's art market.

Wang is likely to store the painting in Hong Kong to avoid paying such high taxes, insiders say.

Liu Yiqian, a Chinese collector, bought a calligraphy work by the artist Su Shi (1037-1101) for $8.2 million last year, and had to pay 3.01 million yuan ($492,059) to ship it back to Shanghai.

Liu shipped the calligraphy work to Hong Kong first, and then his art museum in Shanghai "borrowed" it for an exhibition.

A duty-free port in Beijing has been established this year, aiming to turn China into one of the world's largest art markets, China Daily reported in September.

The painting Wang bought is one of the few works Van Gogh sold during his lifetime. It had been expected to fetch between $30 million to $50 million.