Myriam Ullens, Great Supporter of Chinese Contemporary Art, Shot Dead at 70
Early reports allege she was killed by stepson Nicolas Ullens following a protracted inheritance dispute. Save to My Ocula
Myriam Ullens was shot and killed outside her home in the village of Ohain, south of Brussels, at 10am on Wednesday 29 March.
Belgian newspaper La Libre reports that Ullens was shot in the head four times by her stepson Nicolas Ullens, a 58-year-old former Belgian state security agent.
With her husband Guy, 88, Ullens was an enthusiastic collector of Chinese art. They acquired key works by leading artists such as Feng Mengbo, Huang Yong Ping, Wang Jianwei, and XU ZHEN®.
In 2007, they co-founded Beijing’s Ullens Centre for Contemporary (UCCA), China’s first institution devoted to contemporary art.
UCCA was purchased by a group of patrons and shareholders in 2017, but the Ullens continued to serve on the institution’s Foundation Council.
‘The vision and passion of Myriam Ullens—her love for art, belief in cultural exchange, and commitment to helping others—are at the core of UCCA’s history and values,’ said UCCA Director Philip Tinari.
‘We are shocked and saddened by her death, and will remember her strength, style, creativity, and generosity as we carry forward the work of the institution that she and Guy so generously founded and nurtured through its first decade,’ he said.
Myriam Ullens worked as an entrepreneur before marrying Belgian businessman Baron Guy Ullens in 1999.
Together they set up a foundation in 2002 that provided support for Chinese contemporary art and established orphanages and a teachers training centre in Nepal.
A breast cancer survivor, Myriam—who was also known as Mimi—founded the Mimi Foundation in 2004 to support cancer patients. It was supported by artists including Sui Jianguo, Tracey Emin, Sterling Ruby, and Yan Pei-Ming.
Speaking to Ocula Magazine in 2013, Ullens said, ‘A collection is like a living breathing body. It evolves in an organic manner.’
On her Instagram account, Ullens described herself as ‘a lover of life’. —[O]
Main image: Feng Mengbo, In Love, (2019–2020). Lithography, A/P. 56 x 76cm. Courtesy the artist.
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