Collector Guy Ullens Files Suit Against Son After Fatal Shooting of Wife, Myriam Ullens

Following the fatal shooting of collector Myriam Ullens in March, her husband Guy Ullens has filed suit against Nicolas Ullens, his son and her stepson.

The Brussels daily De Standaard reported on Wednesday that the suit had been filed on Monday in Nivelles, Belgium, by Nathalie Buisseret, a lawyer for Guy. News of the suit arrived as legal proceedings against Nicolas continue in Belgium.

Guy and Myriam Ullens are well-known for their art collection, which includes a wealth of Chinese contemporary art. The two founded the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (now UCCA Center for Contemporary Art) in Beijing in 2007; the museum now has two more locations, in Shanghai and Beidaihe. The couple appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collection each year between 2008 and 2015.

Myriam died at 70 on March 29 after being shot outside her apartment in Lasne. She and Guy were in their car when Nicolas fired six shots at them.

Guy, 88, was reportedly shot in the leg and taken to the hospital. “Considering the circumstances,” Buisseret said, “he’s holding up very well.”

It has been widely stated in the Belgian press that Nicolas had shot Myriam amid a dispute of his inheritance. He reportedly told a relative that, under the proposed inheritance plan, he would “have nothing left” and that Myriam tried to keep everything from him, including “the parental home.”

Nicolas turned himself in the day afterward fatally shooting Myriam. A Belgian court extended his period of detainment on Monday, something his lawyers did not fight.