Matthew Wong

(Canadian, 1984–2019)

Born in Toronto in 1984, Matthew Wong emigrated to Hong Kong with his family when he was seven, returning with them to Canada when he was 15.

Wong's artistic talent was evident from a young age, and after earning a degree in cultural studies from the University of Michigan in 2007, he began painting and drawing seriously in 2013. Yet while he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Photography at the City University of Hong Kong School of Creative Media in 2012, he was largely self-taught as a painter.

Wong's paintings are characterized by their vibrant colors and dreamlike quality. He often painted landscapes and natural scenes, imbuing them with a sense of otherworldliness and imagination, and his works have been described as ‘ethereal’ and ‘mystical’.

Although Matthew Wong died in 2019 when he was just 35, he had already gained huge critical acclaim, with his painting River at Dusk commanding $6,661,953 at auction. His work is held in prestigious art collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, New York.