Daoism: A Visual Analysis Of The Song Dynasty

The landscape painting is depicted vertically, showing a deep mass and volume of the painting and visually showing a dream-like fade that is highly influential to other artworks during the song era in the "golden age of Chinese landscape painting".6 The painting was highly influenced by the movement of the imperial court and reflects highly on the details of its landscape form, showing it 's foregrounds and depth. The way Li Cheng envisioned the idea of total restlessness is by creating a wash of mineral colored pigments to show a symbolic atmosphere of a dream. The elements of the painting contain tampered brushed lines that appear to be modulated or iron-wire painted lines.7 The painting consists of a very washed out texture, forming an illusion of depth through perspective, and managing a dramatic backdrop that displays a rich fade of what appears to

For instance, Fan Kuan, a man who is moved by the religion of Daoism, “shunned the cosmopolitan life”.9 In other words, he believed that painting should be influenced by your surroundings of the environment rather than the man himself such as the Imperial Academy.10 The philosophy of Daoism progresses the field of landscape art during the Song Dynasty era where an artist such as Kuan is religiously moved by incorporating the influence of nature that Daoism advocates. For example, in his artwork, "Travelers among Mountains and Streams", dated early 11th century, the hanging scroll has a similarity towards Imperial landscape art. However, the scroll illustrates different shades of light and glorifies the way nature looks without adding any buildings or bridges, letting nature be the main point that Daoism is known for. The artwork is symbolizing the interests of its culture through Daoism by glorifying the flow of nature that tries to speak to its audience