Bada Shanren

Bada Shanren (八大山人; 1626 – 1705), born Zhu Da (朱耷), was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet. He was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, in 1626. Zhu was mentally ill and displayed erratic behavior. He was a Ming empire prince. Fearing that he would also be purged and executed, he fled to a Buddhist temple and learned the teachings of Zen Buddhism, becoming a monk for 30 years. He spent most of his early to mid-life in the Buddhist monkhood, returning to Nanchang when he was about fifty years old. He embarked on an artistic career soon after reentering secular life in 1680, producing works that featured his calligraphy, painting, and poetry. Most of the time, he painted simple subjects like flowers, plants, and animals and kept most of the given space empty. Toward the end of his life, he started painting more landscapes. Some of his artwork were metaphors on the fall of the Ming dynasty and its failure after being destroyed by the Qing. His poems often included obscure references.