Hidden behind a bloom of various color tones, a woman gazes dreamily ahead, exuding a sense of loveliness with a hint of a smile. The mysterious smile makes the audience wonder whether it is her memory in the past or her hope for the future makes the female in the painting melancholy. This piece up for auction, “A Melancholy Day”, is a wonderful example of Walasse Ting’s mature style in the 1980s. With rich red, green, yellow, blue, and purple boldly splashed across the canvas, layers of striking and vivid colors on the canvas cleverly compose the elusive allure behind the intense and expressive colors.

Ting, always uninhibited embracing the zest of life, once called himself the “butterfly gangster”, and drew inspiration from his genuine feelings of his life. Women and flowers are his fascination, which he usually depicts in fresh and vivid colors in his paintings. Ting came to Paris in 1952 at 23, and moved New York in 1958. He finally relocated to Amsterdam in 2001, where he spent the remainder of his life. Vigorous and unrestrained, Ting was acquainted with members in art circles and influenced by different art movements in different places. However, he did not belong to any particular art schools and groups. He exercised his bright, vivid, and colorful style and striking subjects to develop his own individual style, capturing the audience of all ages all over the world. In this particular piece, “A Melancholy Day”, Ting’s highly-refined ability to create an alluring and glamorous world with the use of bright, vivid, fresh color is on full display. Ting’s most prominent feature is to depict the alluring beauty of flowers and women, captured in abundantly rich and bright images while offering a feast for the senses. With the flowers and the woman drifting on the background in the indefinable blue, this auctioned piece exudes a mysterious, dreamy charm and melancholy abundance of sweetness.