ZAO WOU-KI, a painter who recently became the highest-selling living Chinese artist at auction, passed away Tuesday at his home in Switzerland. He was 92.

    Zao, who is known for his abstract works, suffered from dementia and poor health. He lived in a lakeside house near Geneva with his third wife, Francoise Marquet, who survives him along with a son from a previous marriage, Zhao Jialing.

    Born in Beijing in 1921, Zao studied fine arts in Hangzhou and Chongqing before moving to Paris in 1948. In France, he began to discover Western art styles and became a fixture on the country’s art scene in the second half of the 20th century. However, his career hit a lull in the 1990s, when few of his works were sold and museum interest waned.

    The artist’s career was rejuvenated following a major retrospective in Paris in 2003, and his blend of Chinese techniques with Western modernist aesthetics caught the eye of wealthy Asian collectors — especially from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland — who paid significant sums for his works.

    In 2011, Zao was the top-selling, living Chinese artist at auction, with his works fetching US$90 million in sales that year. Last week, his painting “10.03.83” sold for US$4.8 million at a Sotheby’s sale in Hong Kong.

    His estate, which includes hundreds of paintings, is the subject of a legal dispute between Marquet and Zhao.

    (SD-Agencies)