Cloudy Mountains

After the Northern Song fell to the Jurchen invasion, Mi Youren fled south. In 1130 he gave this painting to a man who had sheltered him. Wet ink dots create misty mountains in the manner he developed with his father, Mi Fu. The quiet view is connected with displacement and a specific act of gratitude.

Columns of calligraphy stand beside red seals. The scroll preserves painting together with inscriptions that add to the history of its reading and ownership.

Dark rounded hills emerge from pale mist. Mi Youren builds up wet ink dots, allowing some edges to remain diffuse.

A narrow stream bends between wooded slopes. Unpainted intervals distinguish water from mountain surfaces with almost no use of color.

A rounded mountain rises above bands of cloud. Its base is partly concealed, leaving the visible sections to establish its height.

A long low bank stretches beside pale water. Its horizontal course suits a handscroll intended to be opened gradually.

Mi Youren was the eldest son of the painter and critic Mi Fu. After crossing the Yangzi, he reached Xinchang in Zhejiang. His gift links a family painting tradition with the experience of someone displaced from his former home.