My Home, Yimeng Mountain No. 1: Delivering a Letter

The artist produced this painting in 1982 for his graduation project at the CAFA. During the period of 'reform and opening-up' in the early 1980s, various artistic movements and schools flooded into China. Every young artist faced the challenge of choosing their creative path. The release of this painting and the later Yimeng Mountain series have proven Wang Yidong’s persistence in creating Realist oil paintings.
Against the background of Yimeng Mountain, where the artist is from, Wang depicts a group of people forming a circle and reading a letter, showing a mother’s care for her son as he travels far from home. It is typical of Wang’s early oil paintings to suggest a powerful narrative through the choice of subjects and methods of portraying them. --- By Song Jinming