Artwork Description

Title:Living in Baijia Lake

Artist
Wei Luning

Date
2016

Medium:
Oil on canvas

Dimensions
19.7 x 23.6 in (50 x 60 cm)

1. Artwork Identification
Living in Baijia Lake (2016) is a luminous oil painting by Wei Luning, capturing the delicate stillness of twilight over the lake’s surface. Rendered in muted tones of peach, blue, and slate gray, the canvas reflects both the landscape and its mirrored impression on water. The scene is softly blurred at the edges, inviting the viewer into a moment of introspection, with gentle transitions between sky, trees, and buildings along the lakeshore. A faint sun glows at the center, adding a quiet warmth to the otherwise cool palette.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Wei Luning’s technique here evokes both the tonal subtlety of Chinese literati painting and the atmospheric layering of Impressionist masters such as Claude Monet. His ability to modulate paint into mist, sky, and water reflects a nuanced control of texture and temperature, blending Chinese aesthetics with a contemporary oil Medium: . The painting’s suggestion of permanence within transience—architecture within fog, light within dusk—demonstrates Wei’s poetic, meditative approach to nature.

3. Historical Context
Created in 2016, this work reflects the evolving role of Baijia Lake in the urban identity of Nanjing. Once on the periphery, the area has seen increasing development in recent decades. Wei’s painting captures the peaceful coexistence of nature and habitation, neither romanticizing nor critiquing but instead reflecting on lived experience within a transforming landscape. The work serves as a personal ode to place, viewed through the lens of memory and quiet observation.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is stable, the surface clean, and no signs of damage or restoration are visible. The brushwork and color application remain vibrant and true to the artist’s intention.

6. Artistic Significance
Living in Baijia Lake is a sublime example of Wei Luning’s ability to translate landscape into lived emotion. The piece exemplifies his mastery of light, space, and silence, offering collectors an intimate and reflective view of contemporary Chinese landscape painting. As urbanization continues to reshape natural spaces, this painting stands as a tender visual meditation on home, memory, and belonging.