Alibaba co-founder sells his first painting for N1.075 billion at auction

folarin okunola

October 5, 2015 3:02 PM

The piece sold for a whopping $5.4 million at Sotheby’s on Sunday – 17 times the estimated price by the auction house

Zeng Fanzhi and Jack Ma strike a pose with their Earth painting which sold for $5.4 million at a Sotheby's auction

Jack Ma, Alibaba co-founder, also moonlights as a painter, and his first painting piece has just sold at auction for millions of dollars.

Ma’s painting, “Paradise,” a round, oil on canvas piece depicting Earth, was done in collaboration with well-known Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi. The artists coated and dotted the canvas with paint, before using palette knives to scrape the surface of the piece.

"This is the first time I've painted, and to have been able to do it with Fanzhi -- I am deeply honored," Ma wrote in the auction catalog. "Together, we created an earth: to protect the earth, to protect the oceans, to protect the air, to protect water."

The piece sold for a whopping $5.4 million at Sotheby’s on Sunday – 17 times the estimated price by the auction house – to Chinese businessman Qian Fenglei. Proceeds of the sale will be given to the Paradise International Foundation, a non-profit, environmental conservation group which is backed by Ma, Zeng and other Chinese philanthropists and entrepreneurs.

READ: 8 billionaire tech entrepreneurs in India you should know about

Toeing the steps of western billionaires like Warren Buffet, Ma has stepped up his involvement in philanthropic work. Last year, he established a multi-billion dollar trust fund for environmental, medical, education, and cultural causes in China.

Back in May, he also became the chairman of the board for the Nature Conservancy’s China program. A few months back, he also spent $23 million to purchase a parcel of land in upstate New York, and has plans to turn it into a conservation area.

folarin okunola