「Look at the Picture and Talk about the Painting」Why Did Chen Danqing Worship Jan Van Eyck?

The bronze statue that made Chen Danqing kneel was that of which master? In the Jan van Eyck Square in Bruges, I witnessed with my own eyes a “famous scene” in the art world. The bronze statue that Danqing knelt before was that of Jan van Eyck, who is known as the “Father of Oil Painting”.

Van Eyck’s most significant contribution was the innovation of oil painting techniques, which solved the problem of the drying speed of pigments, allowing painters to apply multiple glazes and make fine adjustments, achieving an unprecedented depth of color and texture.

The Arnolfini Portrait is one of Van Eyck’s most famous masterpieces and a milestone in art history. The most eye-catching convex mirror in the painting not only reflects the full view of the room but also shows the figure of the painter himself, setting a precedent for “painting within a painting”. This meticulous attention to detail demonstrates Van Eyck’s profound observation of the real world.

While Van Eyck was leading the oil painting revolution in Europe, Dai Jin, a painter of the Ming Dynasty in China, was interpreting art in a different way. His landscape paintings featured vigorous and angular brushstrokes and a profuse use of ink. If Van Eyck focused on scientific perspective and light and shadow, dissecting every detail of the real world with his brush, Dai Jin expressed his emotions and insights through his brush and ink, conveying the artistic conception with the “freehand brushwork” aesthetic.

Different cultural backgrounds have given rise to different artistic languages. Each art form carries unique cultural connotations and aesthetic values. Just as Van Eyck’s realism and Dai Jin’s freehand brushwork, this diversity indicates that there is no standard answer to beauty and no single path for art. Whether it is the oil painting revolution or the ink-wash painting’s artistic conception, at their essence, they are both human beings’ yearning for a better life and pursuit of artistic truth.

The tea for today is all gone. Next time, I’ll brew a fresh pot and enjoy art with you again.