Among Qi Baishi's many painting themes, vegetables and fruits are the ones that can most touch the homesickness of the elderly, and he places these daily sights on a deep spiritual connotation, beyond the content and form of painting. Among fruits and vegetables, Qi Baishi likes to paint various vegetables, such as cabbage, radish, loofah, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, hedge beans, peppers, pumpkins, taro and so on. These are the things he has eaten and planted since he was a child, and they are related to his memories and nostalgia.
The earliest painting of Qi Baishi's vegetables and fruits in the Beijing Academy of Painting is "Pomegranate" written in 1922, which is the third year from the year 1919 when Qi Baishi settled in Beijing, although he has experienced five out of five experiences, the thought of his hometown, the attachment to his relatives, always haunting his mind, for those vegetables and fruits that have maintained Qi Baishi and his family's livelihood, he is very memorable" The belly filler wins half a year's grain, and the aspirant should not forget its fragrance." (Titled "Painting Lai") "Full of earthly taste, especially feel the fragrance of Laigan." ”
As a painter, Qi Baishi, the best way to express this emotion is to paint, so he painted a large number of works with vegetables and fruits as the theme, which are an important part of Qi Baishi's art. Qi Baishi chose the most popular vegetables and fruits as a gift of affection, which was typical in the society that had not yet reached subsistence at that time, and the main food of the farmhouse, its planting, harvesting and processing, etc. were once an important part of Qi Baishi's life. New grapes are difficult to fill the shelves, and the loofah will be filled with empty space." All these experiences have left a deep memory for Qi Baishi: "A hill of sweet potatoes is cool in autumn, and it is a warehouse for poor families." To the old Mo suspect that the flavor is thin, self-simmering cow dung fire incense. ”
Here we can also taste the flavor of the farmhouse, and it seems that we can also see the smoke of cooking under the sun. The reason why Qi Baishi's works of art are touching and elegant is because of his extreme love for life and his true feelings in his works, which is especially prominent in vegetable and fruit works. No painter in history has ever had Qi Baishi's rare enthusiasm for expressing the real world, and in taking ordinary and ordinary things as painting materials, Qi Baishi has reached the limit of richness and diversity that has never been seen in the history of painting. The exhibition takes "Innocent Heirloom" as the theme to tell the truth "Innocent Heirloom" is a common title for Qi Baishi's painting of cabbage, and "Passing on my descendants with agricultural instruments" is Qi Baishi's party seal.
Qi Baishi was born in the poor family of "half a year of grain for bran vegetables", taking cabbage as the king of vegetables alone, never forgetting "three generations of ancestors biting their roots", believing that "the roots of vegetables are the most fragrant", often with the harmonic "innocence" sound of green cabbage, he likes to paint cabbage all his life, and is proud of the "vegetable shoot gas" that is full of his own pictures. Qi Baishi's most nostalgic day was the nine years of "poverty" life after his long trip (1909-1917). The joy of chanting, painting, and engraving memories of the period with fields and houses, full of children and grandchildren, and self-sufficiency and enjoying free labor praises the poor and peaceful peasant life. With their rich experience, the old man persuades the younger generation to be a simple and generous value orientation.