The Land is So Rich in Beauty

This is one of the large-scale masterpieces of Chinese landscape painting created shortly after the foundation of the New China. Based on a poem by Mao Zedong, the painters Fu Baoshi and Guan Shanyue came up with the final work after several drafts, which reflects the orientation of thematic creation in landscape painting of the New China.

With a tremendous size, this painting visualizes the scene of “the beautiful landscape clad in white snow in the rising sun” described in the poem, perfectly revealing the atmosphere that the literary work tries to create.

A looking-down perspective was applied to the work, unveiling a surreal scene of various geographic landforms such as plains, mountains, rivers, as well as sceneries on both the two sides of the Great Wall in the four seasons. A grand yet elegant landscape was thus created in a romantic way based on reality.

The painters focused their brushworks on the depiction of the overall atmosphere rather than meticulous details, enhancing the expressiveness and uniformity of the entire work. They also boldly innovated the coloring by adding other colors to the original dark green-centered palette, accentuating color contrast and gradation, and combining pigments and inks, ending up with an eye-catching visual effect.