Viewing Plum Blossoms by Moonlight [Photo provided to Chinaculture.org]

Painted in the early 13th century, noted painter Ma Yuan’s work gives visitors a visual poem evoking sense.

The browns and blacks in the trees and rocks contrast with the light grayish hues of the cliff and mountain to suggest the mist-filled atmosphere of an early spring evening. The thatch roof of a pavilion identifies the place as a garden setting. A man in a white robe sits quietly under the moonlight, framed by the dark angular forms of the landscape.

Ma’s work recalls a yin-yang cosmic diagram with its implication of positive within negative, light within dark, solid within void.