Rock Mountain

When Zhang Daqian moved to the Bade Garden in South America, he was accompanied by his children, grandchildren, and disciples, and old friends often visited him, so his life was not lonely. After he later returned to his home country to settle down, although friends came and went, most of his children and grandchildren remained overseas. As he grew old and longed for his family, he felt especially comforted whenever relatives came to visit. On his eightieth birthday in 1978, his fifth daughter, Xinpei, came from Brazil to Taiwan to congratulate him on his birthday. Zhang accidentally fell and was injured, requiring hospitalization, yet he was still overjoyed by his beloved daughter's visit, and so he gifted her this painting. This painting was in fact an unfinished work, and the inscription says, "When I come again another day, I shall add the finishing touches." The outlines in the painting were already present, but the mountains and peaks were rather rough and sparse. Because he was old and frail, and because they were so far apart, he sighed, "How much time remains in my life?" Yet even though it was unfinished, he still "held it and gave it to her," hoping that they would meet again before long. All his complex and contradictory feelings are contained in these few words. Whether the painting was finished and exquisite or not no longer mattered in the face of the affection between father and daughter.