This is the so-called artistic appreciation among nobles, and it is boring to make a long speech to the same gardens, palaces and nobles with lazy expressions on their faces forever. The only way for ancient painters to be recognized is to draw such paintings for princes and nobles. From this point of view, Miller is undoubtedly an alternative painter controlled by feudal thoughts. His brush depicts not a jewel-encrusted aristocrat on his face, but an oppressed unruly husband. "There are no idle fields in the four seas, and farmers starve to death"; People at the bottom of society. He was despised and rejected, but he never stopped painting. In that seemingly simple painting, there is always a trace of compassion throughout the whole work.
Mencius said, "Heaven will descend to Sri Lanka, and it must first suffer its mind, destroy its bones and muscles, and hurt its body and skin." Miller's life seems to be the embodiment of this sentence. He was down and out all his life, just like the farmer in his painting. Because the rich people at the top of society can't understand the hardships of the environment in which the characters live, and the main color of the painting is khaki, which they despise, what he can only hear from the mouth of the upper class in his lifetime is "His painting is ruined!" People who can appreciate the sadness in paintings are struggling for food and clothing at the bottom of society and have no time or money to appreciate his paintings. His paintings sometimes only give children a pair of shoes. But this does not affect the feelings of saving the world revealed in his paintings; Didn't make him change the object of painting. With Miller's talent, he effortlessly portrayed a paunchy aristocrat to support his crumbling home and starving children, but he didn't. Every painting he painted seems to be a petition for the poor working people.
What impressed me the most was his work The Late Bell. In this painting, Miller depicts a couple standing in the field, listening to the late bell from the church and praying for a peaceful life. In the deep yellow tone, the couple's figure looks so peaceful. There is no endless desire, no intrigue in the court, no boring jewelry. What two people expect is a quiet life. In this simple painting, the lightness and desire that were out of tune with the society at that time were revealed. Peace and compassion have a magical power. It frees you from endless pursuit and looks on coldly at the absurd society from an objective perspective. It lets you get rid of impetuousness and appreciate the truth contained in those simple appearances.
Miller is not alone. He didn't know that in China, which is a continent away from him, a man named Du Fu expressed the same feelings of saving the world as he did in a poem named Autumn Wind Breaking the Cottage. What's more, it was sung by people for generations. "There are thousands of buildings, everyone in the world is happy, and the wind and rain are like a calm mountain." Poetry is in the ear and painted in front of you; In different places, different dynasties, one person wrote poetry and one person painted, and both of them made this eternal voice.