PROVENANCE:
Collection of former Director of the Shiy De-jinn Foundation,
Mr. Lu Sheng-Hua (acquired directly from the artist)

The tranquility and elegance of the scenery of Tamsui River is an often-seen topic in his watercolors. He once wrote, "To paint the landscape of Tamshui River, I often rush there before the sunset so that I can see the emerging beach and the drained river bed after the tide recedes. I often wander along the bank where flocks of egrets alight, where the grass and bush thrive. I often find an abandoned sandbank and plant myself there as if I were deserted in a more primitive era. I lose myself there. Then, Mt. Guanyin rises from the plain sandbank and projects itself on the still water. The water is the sky, the sky is the water."

This particular work, was painted in 1980 during the second last year of his lifetime.The most attractive feature of Shiy De-jinn's later works is probably the faint marine blue, an elegant, pure blue that strikes directly at the viewer's heart. It quietly exudes a sense of disquiet that stops the passerby in their tracks and encourages them to look closely at the painting.