Contending in Beauty

Sa Dji, often referred to as China’s Van Gogh, studied at the Académie royale des beaux-arts de Belgique in Belgium in the 1930s. He later returned to China due to mental illness and lived in seclusion in his hometown, Yin County in Zhejiang. Despite being long troubled by illness, he always maintained an independent and free artistic spirit, never letting his passion for creation diminish, and he reached the summit of his oeuvre in his later years. Contending in Beauty was created when he was 75 years old, and it was such a masterpiece that he integrated Realism, Impressionism, Fauvism, and Expressionism. It featured a natural backdrop of distant fields, mountains, and clouds, while chrysanthemums of red, yellow, white, and purple bloom vigorously up close, contending in beauty. The disproportion between the flowers and the background mountains created a surreal atmosphere, and through freely expressive brushstrokes, it conveyed the artist’s passion for life and deep love for nature.