Modern artist Zhang Daqian has mastered many different styles, which have made him one of the most popular artists in the world. His pieces now fetch very high prices at auction.
One distinguished and commercially successful approach to painting Zhang developed is po cai, or splashing colors on paper.
Temple at the Mountain Peak, a fine splashed-color example Zhang made in 1967, sold HK$209.1 million ($27 million) at Christie's auction house on May 24.
Zheng created the style of po cai not only because a deteriorating visibility no longer allowed him to depict a lot of details but also, he was exposed to an abstract, expressionist current while traveling and exhibiting around the world.
When he made the painting, Zhang was at his residence in Brazil, a Chinese-style garden which surrounded him in an atmosphere of his home culture.
Zhang presented in the landscape a majestic grander and serenity he found in Song Dynasty (960-1279) art. He layered on shades of blue over the gold to create a sense of openness.
The abstract lyricism conveyed in Zhang's po cai works paved a new path for 20th-century Chinese art, and built a new bridge to bring together Eastern and Western art forms.
