Jay Chou Says He Won Matisse Painting “La Séance du Matin” for $20 Million
Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou has confirmed that he was the winning bidder for Henri Matisse’s 1924 painting “La Séance du Matin,” which sold for $20 million with fees at Sotheby’s New York in June. The announcement, made on Instagram, places one of the region’s best-known entertainers squarely inside the upper tier of contemporary celebrity collectors.
In his post, Chou described a long-running attachment to Matisse’s work from the artist’s Nice period. He said that when he visited Nice in the south of France, he would often stand outside Matisse’s former home and imagine the painter looking out from the 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.
The purchase fits a pattern Chou has discussed publicly for years. In 2021, he told CNN that he had spent almost all of his concert earnings on artworks. His collection already includes works by Peter Doig and Jean-Michel Basquiat, signaling an interest that extends well beyond the celebrity cachet often associated with star collectors.
Chou, whose best-known songs include “Common Jasmine Orange” and “Sunny Day,” has increasingly used social media to share personal milestones tied to art. The Matisse acquisition is notable not only for its price, but for the way it links a pop star’s private collecting ambitions to one of the most closely watched names in modern art. In a market where provenance, taste, and public visibility often intersect, Chou’s latest purchase is a reminder that collecting can still be driven by memory as much as status.
