This is the first English biography of Tan Swie Hian, who holds the record for the highest price for a painting by a living South-East Asian artist. The biography also reveals how Tan Chan Pok, the artist's father and the wealthiest man in Bagansiapiapi, Sumatra, escaped an assassination attempt. Drawings by the painter's beloved mother, Madam Lie Soie, are also published for the first time. So too the latest calligraphy by Tan Swie Hian, his only self-portrait, early works from the 1970s, and an extensive portfolio.