Empress Dowager Cixi's 80 Chinese paintings will make you speechless!
Cixi(1835-1908), commonly known as the "Empress Dowager of the West", was a well-known figure for women and children. In addition to being good at power tricks and keen on politics, Cixi loved calligraphy and painting in her life, especially loved to reward her ministers with "her own" calligraphy and paintings, in order to show her favor and win people's hearts.
The Empress Dowager Cixi attached great importance to cultural cultivation in court life, and she herself was a woman with a wide range of hobbies and outstanding talents. Under her rule, court painting in the Qing Dynasty developed to a certain extent. The Empress Dowager Cixi is good at painting flowers and birds, and her paintings have a certain artistic value.
Empress Dowager Cixi's painting style was mainly influenced by Qing court paintings, and her works were dominated by flower and bird paintings, with simple compositions, bright colors, and smooth lines. In her paintings, one can see a love for nature and a zest for life.
Empress Dowager Cixi's paintings have a certain artistic value, but her painting achievements are not very high relative to her political status. However, as one of the representatives of court painting at the end of the Qing Dynasty, her paintings provide valuable information for us to understand the social culture of the time.