Zao Wou-ki was one of the first Chinese artists to gain global recognition. He passed away on Tuesday at his home in Switzerland aged 92. Zhang Zixuan and Lin Qi report.

Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-ki, who only stopped painting when complications from Alzheimer's forced him into retirement, passed away at his home in Switzerland on Tuesday at the age of 92. Zao was one of the world's most successful Chinese oil painters, both in terms of artistic accomplishment and performance at auction. Hailed as a reformer of Chinese art, he was one of the first Chinese artists to win recognition outside his homeland. His artworks appeal to collectors around the world thanks to his international perspective and the spirit of the Orient that he embodied.

Zao became a French citizen in 1964 and is also a respected artist in his adopted country. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said of Zao's death: "What passes with him is an emblematic figure of lyrical abstraction to which his work has made an outstanding contribution."

Born in Beijing in 1921, Zao soon moved with his family to Nantong, Jiangsu province. He was the oldest of seven children in an intellectual family. His banker father was an art lover and owned a large collection of antiques.

Zao demonstrated an early interest in Chinese bronze ware and began his art studies in 1935 at age 14, at Hangzhou National School of Art - now the China Academy of Art, Zhejiang province.

Over the following six years, Zao studied traditional Chinese and Western painting techniques from art masters including Lin Fengmian (1900-91). His time at the school also exposed him to the art of European masters Cezanne (1839-1906), Matisse (1869-1954) and Picasso (1881-1973), who provided the visions he believed were "closest to nature".

After graduation he became a young teacher at his alma mater and held his first solo exhibition in 1941.

In 1948, Zao went to France to chase his dream of becoming a successful artist, helped along by a gift of $30,000 given by his father.

It took 36 days to reach Marseilles by boat. The day Zao arrived at Paris by train, he went straight to the Louvre Museum.

Over the next 18 months the young artist spent every afternoon at a museum or gallery. In 1949, his first Paris solo exhibition was held at the Creuze Gallery. It was the first of 160 exhibitions worldwide.

Strongly influenced by Swiss-German painter Paul Klee (1879-1940), Zao gradually abandoned details, moving away from representational painting and turning toward abstraction.

Zao believed only abstraction provided greatest freedom and strength. His canvases became a mesh of lines and color blocks invoking scenes of creatures from the Earth, such as ocean and fire.

He stopped naming his works after completing Cloud in 1958, only noting down the finishing date on the back of every painting.

Zao took traditional Chinese art as a reference point to create a new sense of space full of rhythm, color and light. By doing so he claimed to have rediscovered the artistic origins of China and was considered to be representative of the school of Western modern lyrical abstraction.

"People submit themselves to one tradition, while I submit to two," Zao once said of his artistic style. "Although different in presentation, realism and abstractionism are both artists' expressions toward the objective existence."

Yang Feiyun, dean of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, says: "Zao is undoubtedly a world-class master. His abstract painting mixes the spirit of both Chinese and Western arts - the idea, form and material come from the West, while the inner core carries the qi (essence) of oriental shan shui (mountains and waters) spirit."

Zao continued to work very hard, even in his later years. He especially loved making large-scale paintings, which required a ladder to complete. He was often so caught up in his work that he fell from the ladder several times, injuring his arm, waist and shoulder. Despite this, he never hired an assistant.

In 1985 the then 64-year-old returned to China to give a one-month painting master class at his alma mater in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Twenty-seven teachers and students from eight art institutions participated in the class, exceeding the planned quota of 15 people.

"He was always on time and spent a whole day in the class. And he made revisions of every student's work," recalls Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of China Academy of Art's Oil Painting Department, who was the class monitor.

"He even let his wife be the model," adds Xiao Feng, the academy's former director.

Zao revisited the school in 2001 and 2004 to teach.

Zao's only son Jialing says his father had long hoped to build a memorial to his art in Hangzhou.

After receiving numerous awards, in 2006 Zao was made an officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor by the then French president Jacques Chirac.

The market for his work has expanded from Europe and the United States to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia over the past two decades. An increasing number of Chinese mainland collectors also compete for Zao's works at auction.

Leading art market watchdog Artprice.com ranks Zao 23rd in the Top 500 artists by auction revenue in 2012 and ninth among Chinese painters, in its latest report on international art market.

His painting 10.1.68 set a record in 2011 when it was sold for HK$68.98 million ($8.9 million) at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.

"I am not afraid of being old or dead," Zao once said. "As long as I can paint, I am fearless."