Does the highest state of painting really need imagination?

As we all know, western critics often divide painting art into three categories, namely, concreteness, impression and abstraction. Figurative is realism in the usual sense, faithful to the external material world, and works refer to concrete images. Man or woman, lady or stalker, smiling or meditating. Representatives of western realism are Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Raphael's Madonna, and Lie Bin's Volga Tracker. China's figurative painting reached its peak in the Tang and Song Dynasties, such as Yan's Walking Map, Zhang Xuan's The Palace Maid in the Tang Dynasty, Wu Niu Tu and Gu in the Five Dynasties.

If we interpret the impression according to China's writing, it is the impression left by objective things in people's minds, while from the perspective of artistic creation, it is based on the impression of the depicted object. The most obvious feature of western impressionism is to objectively describe the moment in visual reality, mainly to show the relationship between pure light, that is, to reflect the instantaneous impression of nature according to the seven colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple in the solar spectrum.

Impressionist works choose a wide range of themes, whether in the city or in the countryside, painters try to capture the ever-changing nature. Impressionism was born in the middle of19th century and reached its peak in 1970s and 1980s. Its influence spread all over Europe and gradually all over the world, but it achieved the most brilliant artistic achievements in France. The main impressionist painters are Monet, Manet, pissarro, Lei Nuowa, Sisley, Douga, Mo Lisuo, Guillaume, Basil, Van Gogh and Gauguin.

Abstraction is a high generalization of the description object. It has no specific image and no painting theme, but works in the form of colors and lines. In other words, abstract color is a symbol, representing a certain meaning or object; Similarly, abstract lines are also symbols. Although there are no rules, they are full of personality.

Abstract art was first born in 19 10, and was founded by wassily kandinsky, a Russian-born French painter and art theorist (1866~ 1944). Its expression gradually evolved from concreteness and deformation to pure abstraction, and a watercolor abstract painting once created called "improvisation" was regarded as the first in human history.

Mondriaan, Malevich, Kupka, Delaunet, Dekunin, Vasarelli, Pollock, etc.

For abstract art, Zhang Daqian once had a wonderful exposition with Laozi's theory. He said: "Laozi's theory, what he said is the truth of our abstract painting." He said,' judge a book by its cover', not ordinary looks. This is abstraction. He also said that "there is no phase", there is no equivalent phase, and it doesn't have to be like this thing, but it has his spiritual wealth and is abstract. There are two other words he knows best. He said,' In the ring, out of phase'. Let's work hard in the circle now and finally jump out of the circle. "

In the eyes of many people in the west, abstraction is the highest realm of painting. Therefore, when the first batch of French students Wu Dayu, Zhao Wuji, Zhu Dequn and other painters went to China to study, they abandoned the domestic figurative creation techniques and merged into the tide of international abstract art creation, including Zhang Daqian, who later became internationally renowned, and he also absorbed western abstract art. These painters became outstanding representatives of abstract art among China artists in the future. Today, a large number of abstract painters in China are rising everywhere.

But in my opinion, whether it is concreteness, impression, abstraction, "image" put forward by the west or "potential image" put forward by Wu Dayu, "imagination" is the highest realm of artistic creation.

Imagination is based on the artist's imagination. He is not imagining things out of thin air, but painting according to his own thoughts and feelings on the basis of concreteness, impression, abstraction or text narration, so his art is the most creative.

The most typical example is Zhang Daqian's masterpiece "Lushan Map" in his later years. 198 1 year, 83-year-old Zhang Daqian was invited by Li Haitian, a famous overseas Chinese leader in Yokohama, Japan, to draw a map of Lushan Mountain for his hotel lobby. This drawing is 1.8m wide and1.8m long, and it took one and a half years to create. In my opinion, Zhang Daqian's "Lushan Map" is an imaginative work, which has reached the realm of "the heart is in harmony".

Zhang Daqian has never been to Lushan Mountain, and his creation relies entirely on the narration of his predecessors and his own imagination, drawing a picture of Lushan Mountain in his heart. The picture is drawn from Poyang Lake and the mouth of Lushan Mountain at the upper left, and enters the mountain from Poyang Lake with water and sky. The painting technique is original in Daqian's later years, but it is different in peacetime. There are still many mountains, rivers and trees on the screen, with precise, thick and dignified outlines, which set off the illusion of clouds formed by splashing ink and setting colors, making it even more desolate and magnificent. Magnificent, green ink dripping, shining and blending. Daqian wrote a poem on the painting: "From the monarch's side, there are mountains and valleys. Like a broken fairy smile, you really have Lushan Mountain in your chest. After the lotus party, Tao ordered Shouyu to go instead of returning it. When the smoke is exhausted, cross the stream and sit on Mount Emei. "

This explains why Daqian has never been to Lushan in his life, but chose Lushan as the theme that may become his last masterpiece. The beauty of Lushan Mountain was brewed in Daqian's chest as early as the essence of heaven and earth, and it is a magnificent scenery of the country. This is the Lushan Mountain in the painter's mind, that is, the motherland and mountains in the painter's mind. During the creative process, thousands of people fainted due to heart attacks and were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. After a little recovery, they asked their assistant to carry the painting plan, which was really "painstaking". Because it was originally scheduled to be exhibited at the Taipei Museum of History on June 1983, Daqian had to send the painting to be mounted first, and then retouched it after the exhibition. Unexpectedly, he died suddenly at his desk on March 8, but he could not finish it and sign it. Today, when we look at the map of Lushan Mountain again, there is still a place in the upper left corner that is only outlined in light ink, but it has not damaged the brilliance of the whole painting. Lushan Map has been exhibited and printed many times, and now it should be collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Qi Baishi's Frog Rings Ten Miles Out of the Mountain Spring is also an imaginary masterpiece. 195 1 year, the famous writer Lao She once went to Mr. Qi Baishi's house. He picked up a book from his desk and turned to a poem looked up by a poet in Qing Dynasty. He deliberately chose a sentence from the poem, "Ten-mile frog as a mountain spring", in order to test Qi Baishi and see how Mr. Qi Baishi used painting to express the feelings of auditory organs. Because there are invisible voices, verbs, distance, geographical environment and specific artistic conception in the poem, the difficulty of turning these into a painting can be imagined. Qi Baishi was deeply troubled after answering the question. He thought hard at home for three days before he started writing, but the master is a master after all, and no matter how difficult the problem is, he can't beat Baishi.

With decades of artistic accomplishment, life experience and insight into art, the old man Baishi, after careful consideration, adopted the banner shape (129×34 cm) and drew an amazing masterpiece. Qi used a hearty pen and ink to express the concrete phenomenon of "frog", which is audible and invisible. There are no frogs in the picture, only a few lively tadpoles are swimming happily in the rushing water. This frog sound is not immediately audible. Using this special imagination, the connotation of poetry is accurately and perfectly expressed, and it has become a model of Chinese painting "painting in poetry and painting in poetry". This classic was printed as a stamp by the State Post Bureau and spread all over the world.

Similarly, Song Yugui's masterpiece The Magnificent Yellow River (4.8 meters high and 6.8 meters long) in his later years is the same. As early as 20 12, The Yellow River, as one of more than 100 works of "Artistic Creation Project of Chinese Civilization History", won the bid in the whole country. After expert evaluation, Song Yugui and his assistant wang hong, who have the reputation of "ghost painting makes fairy ink", won the bid. However, how the author expresses the Yellow River is a big problem and challenge. As Song Yugui said, "The Yellow River is difficult to draw, especially difficult to draw. The emotional depth contained in the Yellow River is difficult to describe in words. It is difficult for everyone to have their own Yellow River in their mind. Therefore, everyone is the judge of this painting. " "If you don't draw that spirit and national spirit, you will fail."

During the creation, the author once asked Song Yugui whether he had been to Hukou of the Yellow River for a field trip. He said that he had never been there, and he didn't want to go, for fear of affecting his creation, and he wanted to draw the Yellow River in his mind. It took Song Yugui and wang hong more than four years to draw the Yellow River. When the painting was finished, the four spectators present were all surprised. From the rough picture, the whole work is full of indomitable spirit, with no sky, no land, no rocks, only water and color. This overwhelming composition is unprecedented. If we look closely, the magnificent Yellow River can be divided into two parts. The first part describes how the Yellow River water flows out of heaven. Although the picture is dark, the painter depicts the waterfall momentum of the Yellow River with unique composition and superb techniques, such as thunder, flowing down, so that viewers can feel the water of the Yellow River falling from the sky. The middle and lower part of the picture shows the magnificent scene of the Yellow River, which is overwhelming and roaring, so as to show the unruly blood of the Yellow River and the heroic spirit of the Chinese nation, which is indomitable, invincible and striving for strength. When this masterpiece was exhibited in Guo Bo, the majestic momentum of "Magnificent Yellow River" not only made the audience immersive and excited, but also made the audience full of praise and rave reviews. Unfortunately, when this huge work was completed, Song Yugui fell ill and died. Now this painting is permanently collected and exhibited by Guo Bo.

In fact, there were many classic masterpieces of imagination in ancient China. Take the map of the Yangtze River created by ancient famous artists as an example. According to art literature, Guo, Fan Kuan, Xia Jue, Zhao Fu, Wang Meng, Shen Zhou, Zhou Chen, Dai Jin, and other famous painters have all drawn the map of the Yangtze River.

It is particularly worth mentioning that the Wan Li Atlas of the Yangtze River (scale 42× 16 15cm) painted by Wang Yi, a painter in Qing Dynasty, was written in the thirty-seventh and eighth years of Kangxi (1698-65438+). The picture composition is dense and the weather is far-reaching, showing the famous scenery on both sides of the Yangtze River from the estuary to the source. The whole volume can be roughly divided into eleven sections. But Wang Yi has never been farther than Wuhu, not far from Nanjing, and even walked from the Yangtze River estuary to Wuhu, Anhui Province, which has nothing to do with the Yangtze River.

So, how did he draw the atlas of the Yangtze River, which has never swam across the Yangtze River? According to the postscript of Wang Yi's creation, he created the Yangtze River Wan Li Atlas by imagination on the basis of Yan Wengui's, Wang Meng's maps of the Yangtze River. Weng, a collector, explains this in his new book "Gathering and Reading Wang Yi in Laixi". He said, "The landscape paintings of China in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties are basically not realistic except for some gardens. Most of Wang Yi's Atlas of the Yangtze River can be said to be "fugue", and the main geographical basis lies in the pictures, narratives and personal imagination of predecessors. "

In a word, Wang Yi used this painting to express his admiration and emotion for the magnificent mountains and rivers through imagination. 1875, Wang Yi's Atlas of the Yangtze River was purchased and collected by Emperor Weng Tonghe of Tongzhi and Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. Since then, it has been handed down as the most important collection of the Weng family. 20 18 Weng's descendants have donated it to Boston Art Museum.

From the representative works of several painters in ancient and modern times, we can see that imagination can give full play to artists' talents and stimulate their creativity. Similarly, this kind of works can also leave imagination space for the viewer. From this perspective, imagination is the highest realm of painting.