This colored ink piece, entitled “Lotus”, was created by Lin Fengmian after he settled in Hong Kong in the late 1970s. A collector who adored Lin’s works especially asked Shiy De-jinn to purchase this piece when he visited his teacher in Hong Kong. The collector went on to treasure this work for more than thirty years after he obtained it in 1979.

Even after not seeing his teacher for more than thirty years, Shiy still recognized Lin’s artistic achievement in his works. The depth, content, and colors are all expressed in an exuberant way. In his journal, Shiy describes Lin’s style at that period thusly: “He uses gouache as if it were oil paint, mixing light ink and color in a way that makes the two perfectly reflect each other. His color shows the influence of Renoir, which is delicate, bright, fresh, tender, and vibrant.” “Flowers—they are gorgeous like summer and explosive like the force of life.” (Shiy De-jinn, edited by Cheng Hui-mei, The Lonely Eagle—Anthology of Shiy De-jinn’s Journals from the 1970s to the 1980s, UNITAS Publishing Co., Taipei, 2003, p. 99-100)

Shiy sees life optimistically, as it is depicted in Tagore’s poems: “Let life be beautiful like summer flowers…” Lin is also a truthful and sincere artist, who spent his life pursing lyrical and harmonious aesthetics. Their minds seemed to be connected when Shiy decided to choose this painting, a work filled with summer lotus flowers in full bloom which seem to be praising the beauty and abundance of life.