Swiss Mountains

Zhang Daqian travelled extensively throughout his life and the scenes he saw constantly became the subject matters in his paintings. In 1965, the year in which the present work was painted, Zhang travelled to Switzerland, passing by the Aachensee Lake near the Swiss-Austrian border. His travel companions possibly included good friends Guo Youshou and Wang Jiqian. Zhang painted a series of splashed ink and colour paintings of snowy Swiss mountains and the surrounding areas, portraying European landscape in his unique but Chinese technique.
Swiss Mountain exemplifies Zhang's fresh interpretation of Chinese landscapes. Zhang first applies ink onto moistened paper with minimal interference, and before allowing the ink to dry completely, splatters azurite and malachite pigments over the painting surface, allowing the colours to mix and synergize, resulting in an abstract form of ink and colour. After carefully studying the effects of his works, Zhang then delineates rooftops, trees and jagged rocks with simple lines, thus completing his 'vision of paradise' with both abstract and concrete forms.