The document contrasts Chinese and European art forms through two stories. In one Chinese story, an emperor sees a cave in a wall painting that the painter enters, disappearing along with the painting. In European art, a blacksmith impresses a painter by adding a realistic fly to his work. These stories show that Chinese art aims to transport the viewer's imagination rather than depict reality, while European art seeks to perfectly reproduce a scene through the artist's eyes. The concept of Chinese "shanshui" landscape painting is also explained as representing the Daoist balance of yin and yang energies.

1. Landscape of the Soul
Nathalie Trouveroy

2. Nathalie Trouveroy
• She is an art historian. The wife of
Belgian Ambassador to India.
• Masters in History of Art and
Archaeology, specialization in
Japanese Art and calligraphy.
• Recently she and her friend Agnes
Montanari translated William
Dalrymple's masterpiece on Delhi,
City of Djinns in pictures.
• Nathalie has been imbibing the
cultures of the various cities she
visits.

3. Expressions in the text
• Anecdote /ˈæn.ɪk.dəʊt/: A short amusing or interesting story about
a real incident or person.
• illusionistic likeness: It refers to an adjective of the technique of
using pictorial methods in order to deceive the eye. The reference
is to an illusion created by the semblance of something.
• delicate realism: It refers to the alluring quality of the art which
makes it seem real. It is an interest in or concern for the actual or
real as opposed to abstract.
• figurative painting: A figurative painting refers to the metaphoric
representation of a piece of art, through the eyes of the creator’s
imagination.
• conceptual space: It refers to relationships with the abstract than
the factual representation. This is the incalculable
(extremely large and therefore unable to be measured) dimension of the
understanding of concepts.

4. Introduction
• The lesson Landscape of the soul brings a discussion on
showing the difference between the Chinese Art form and the
European art form. To illustrate the contrast between two art
forms, Trouverroy takes two stories for an example. With the
stories, she tries to showcase that European art is about
reproducing an actual view while Chinese art is about not
creating a real landscape. European art is an artist’s way to let
viewers show exactly what he wants them to see in the
landscape. Chinese art is the artist’s spiritual and inner voice
where you can travel from any point and it lets the viewer
creates a path for their imagination.

5. Summary
• In this chapter, the writer contrasts two forms of art – Chinese art and European art by
using two different stories. In China during the eighth century, the Tang emperor
Xuanzong commissioned a painter Wu Daozi to decorate a wall in the palace. Upon seeing
the wall painting, the Emperor started noticing the outer appearance of the painting but the
painter drew his attention to a cave at the foot of the mountain. The painter told the
Emperor that he would take him inside. The painter entered the cave and the entrance
closed behind him. As soon as the painter clapped his hand, the painting on the wall was
gone and so was the painter.
• In another story, a painter wouldn’t draw an eye of a dragon as he feared that the dragon
would fly out of the painting. In another story to represent a European art form, a master
Blacksmith falls in love with a painter’s daughter. The father didn’t approve of him
because of his profession. The blacksmith sneaked into his painting studio and painted a
fly on the painter’s latest panel. The fly seemed so real that the painter tried to hit it first
before realizing it was in the painting. The painter accepted him as a trainee in his studio.
The blacksmith married the painter’s daughter and later became one of the famous
painters of his time.
• These stories revealed as to how art form is believed to be followed in two different
regions in the world. In Europe, an artist wants the viewer to see a real viewpoint by
borrowing his eyes. The art must be perfect and must be illusion likeness. Whereas, in
China, the artist doesn’t paint a real one but uses his inner and spiritual voice to create an
abstract piece. The viewer can enter the painting from any point and can travel according
to his own imagination. The artist wants the viewer to enter his mind and create a path of
its own.
• This concept is called ‘Shanshui’ which means ‘mountain water’. When they are used
together, they make the word ‘landscape’.

6. Tang Emperor Xuanzong

7. Quinten Mestsys’s Fly

8. Look Through Eyes

9. ART
CHINA
Doesn’t
reproduce an
actual view
Not a single
view, so one can
see it from
different
perspective
EUROPIAN
reproduce an
actual view or
illusionistic
likeness
Borrow the
painter’s angle
and the way the
painter saw it

10. shanshui
Daoist view
Mountain Water
Yang
Represents
male
Yin
Represents
Female
stable warm dry fluid moist cool