Travelers among Mountains and Streams Ink and slight color on silk
'Fan Kuan' (范寬
pinyin: Fàn Kuān;
990-
1030) was a Chinese
landscape painter during the
Northern Song Dynasty. Fan is listed as the 59th of the 100 most important people of the last millennium by ''
Life'' magazine.
Fan painted the 206.3 cm landscape ''Travelers Among Mountains and Streams'' which is considered the finest single landscape painting ever produced in China. It is also a model for other Chinese artists. Fan based the painting on the
Daoist principle of becoming one with nature. When looking at the painting, the viewer realizes how small he/she is compared to the big picture of nature. The painting focuses on the big picture of nature and the world as a whole instead of the individual.
He modeled himself after Li Cheng but later concluded that nature was the only true teacher. Kuan spent the rest of his life as a recluse in the
Shangxi mountains.