Untitled 128

Wu Dayu occupies a prophetic place in the history of modern Chinese painting. He once remarked that “Heaven and earth are the outer form of the mind”, fusing the subtle, intangible movement of brushwork—what he termed Shi (dynamism)—with the Xiang (expression) born of the resonance between spirit, nature and cosmos. Drawing as well on the dynamism of architecture, music, dance and literature, he forged a unique aesthetic of “Shixiang” (Dynamic Expressionism), at once marvellous and ethereal, penetrating and profound. For this he is regarded as the founding figure of Chinese abstraction. Untitled 128 is a representative work of Wu’s late period. Dominated by his beloved Prussian blue, enriched with touches of yellow, green and black, it transforms the motif of flowers into abstract momentum and vibrant colour. Shown here alongside Untitled 106, the painting outlines Wu’s trajectory from his early explorations of “Shixiang” to its consummation in later years, while also underscoring the central role of floral imagery in the evolution of his abstract language. As Wu himself declared: “What life demands of us is that each of us knows how to cultivate life’s blossoms.”