China's landscape painting is the most important form of traditional painting in China, the largest painting discipline, and the art form that best embodies the culture and artistic spirit of China. Landscape painting came into being later than figure painting and earlier than flower-and-bird painting. It sprouted from the background of early figure painting, and gradually became independent in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, forming an independent painting discipline. The Sui and Tang Dynasties were mature, and reached the artistic peak in the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, famous artists came forth in large numbers, forming a spectacular traditional art form in China, which has lasted for a long time.

The appreciation of China's landscape painting is a complex and comprehensive process, which is a concentrated expression of one's cultural and artistic accomplishment and life experience. Below, the author expounds the main points of appreciating landscape painting respectively.

First, the cultural background of landscape painting (philosophical connotation)

Landscape painting is China's landscape painting, but it is not a simple description of natural scenery, but the painter's spiritual appeal and enlightenment, the expression of the painter's attitude towards life and the embodiment of the painter's pursuit of life. The emergence of landscape painting is inseparable from China's Taoist thought, which pursues the spiritual realm of natural inaction and the unity of man and nature, and can "govern everything in the world" and "win things without hurting them". Taoist thought pursues the artistic spirit of simplicity, naturalness, simplicity and silence, so landscape painting is mainly based on ink and wash, supplemented by color. The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were the heyday of metaphysics, and the representative thought of metaphysics was Taoism. During this period, the political situation was turbulent and the people were miserable. Many literati and celebrities choose to retire in order to avoid political disputes, such as Tao Yuanming, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji. They lived in seclusion in the mountains and wrote poems, so landscape poems flourished and landscape paintings came into being. This is closely related to the influence of Taoism in people's lives. The influence of Confucianism on painting is mostly reflected in the early figure painting, which publicly exhorts, strives for ups and downs and establishes social ethics. Therefore, Confucianism is mainly based on China's entry into WTO, while landscape painting is mostly reflected in his birth. Zen thought has a deeper influence on painting, but it is not as clear as Confucianism and Taoism, and it has more influence on later flower-and-bird painting. Of course, such an absolute division is not rigorous, and it is not necessary. It can only be said that it is roughly so. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism gradually merged, and * * * acted on all aspects of China society. The development of landscape painting is also influenced by other ideas, but generally speaking, Taoism is the main idea.

Second, the artistic conception of landscape painting

The artistic conception of landscape painting is the realm created by landscape painting, which advocates the principle of meaning and emphasizes expression, creating a realm of "the mountain is my nature and the mountain is my feelings". The artistic conception created by landscape painting is not only a beautiful landscape, but also a painter's pursuit of ideal realm and a spiritual residence beyond the tedious and vulgar society. The realm of landscape painting gives people a considerable, feasible, swimable and habitable place to roam. Scholars' landscape paintings mostly show the interest of seclusion in the mountains and the simple and natural ink and wash scenery; Most of the boundary paintings of court painters show that buildings and palaces are the prosperity of the world and a paradise outside the world. Different people can find their own spiritual home. This is also the spiritual communication between the painter and the viewer.

Third, the composition of landscape painting

Composition is the layout of the picture, that is, the composition method, which is called the layout of Gu Kaizhi and the management position of Sheikh. Chinese painting pays attention to the idea of scene setting, takes its potential far away and its essence near, and skillfully uses the blank of the picture to make all the places that are not painted wonderful. Chinese painting has the requirement of "look carefully, see all aspects, see through the ground and everything", that is, you can see the back of the mountain from the front, the mountain from the bottom and the outside from the room. This requirement is to meet the needs of "enjoyment and sleep" and to present the beautiful scenery thousands of miles away. The composition method of landscape painting has formed a "three-distance method" in the long-term practice, that is, Guo called Pingyuan, that is, from the near mountain to the distant mountain, such as Guo's "painting axis and stone horizontal"; High, from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, such as Hao Jing's "Kuang Lu Tu Axis"; Profound, from the front of the mountain to peep at the back of the mountain, such as Ju Ran's "Wan He Song Feng Figure Axis". Noble colors are clear, far-reaching colors are heavy and gloomy, and far-reaching colors are bright and gloomy. The perspective of landscape painting is also different from the fixed-point perspective of western painting, but it has no focus and no point perspective. The law of perspective transformation of landscape painting can just meet the needs of China people to appreciate landscape painting.