"It's good to paint Danqing pictures, write poems and send them to Cao Lang", in long history of past and present, there are many people who are skilled in painting. Their exquisite paintings always give us a sense of immersion and bring people great enjoyment of life, such as Zhang Daqian, who is good at drawing pictures of tigers, and Xu Beihong, who is good at drawing horses.

And artist we're talking about today is also well known in world of painting. His name is Qi Baishi. Everyone knows that Qi Baishi loves to draw shrimp, but what they don't know is that cabbage painted by Qi Baishi is also realistic and lifelike, which is hard to find.

But what makes people laugh is that Qi Baishi once wanted to exchange a cabbage he painted for a cart of cabbages from a street vendor, but he was refused. What hell is going on?

Qi Baishi was born in 1864, and his family lived in a remote mountain village, although his life was not rich. But Qi Baishi also had a full and wonderful childhood. His maternal grandfather was a famous cultural figure in area. In his spare time, he often taught Qi Baishi how to read and write. In wilderness of Qi Baishi's countryside, spiritual world was extremely rich.

Qi Baishi doesn't like calligraphy. He enjoys copying things in field, such as flowers, birds, fish, and shrimp. These small creatures, according to Qi Baishi, have a different aesthetic sense.

Painting and writing are elegant things. Qi Baishi's grandfather saw that he was very interested in painting, so he focused on teaching him in this area. Because of this, Qi Baishi's talent for drawing was revealed, and his skills also improved. by leaps and bounds.

At age of 14, Qi Baishi went to work. Because of his love for art, Qi Baishi decided to learn carving from a carpenter, as Western artists always seek inspiration from sculpture. Qi Baishi also deepened his drawing skills by learning woodcarving techniques.

However, Qi Baishi was not satisfied with status quo at that time, he visited famous masters in north and south, and it was because of his perseverance and love for painting that many masters in north and south were moved and gave advice one after another. With nobleman's help, Qi Baishi's skills further improved, and he even gained fame in process of traveling north and south.

Once a friend invited Qi Baishi to become an official at court, but Qi Baishi, who grew up in a poor family, had long ignored any expectations of mediocrity of Qing government.

It was this indifference that drove Qi Baishi to move further and further down road of painting. In end, he decided to settle in Beijing to start his brilliant life.

Qi Baishi lives in bustling city of Beijing, but his current life is very unsatisfactory. I often think about my hometown where I grew up. There is a swimming pool in my hometown. There are always a lot of fish and shrimp in pool. Young Qi Baishi's favorite pastime is to lie on edge of pool. and play with these little creatures. .

This is also Qi Baishi's original intention when choosing painting, which is to capture these small lives with aura. Therefore, when he misses his hometown, Qi Baishi always raises a brush in his hand to paint shrimp. Qi Baishi's shrimp drawing consists of only a few strokes, but it can convey expression of shrimp, vivid and realistic.

Qi Baishi's excellent drawing skills quickly made him a celebrity in capital. However, despite becoming a big celebrity in capital, Qi Baishi still did not act arrogant. "Qi Baishi draws shrimp for ten yuan each."

It also became an interesting conversation in capital at time. He was obviously an elegant artist of both virtue and art, but he characterized himself as a street vendor. It is difficult to find other famous works, but Qi Baishi clearly noted Price.

To tease Qi Baishi, some people came to ask for a painting of shrimp and bargained with Qi Baishi, hoping that Qi Baishi could send such a painting.

So Qi Baishi painted a lifeless shrimp on painting scroll that person asked for, which also made person who asked for picture very puzzled, why all other shrimp had a different facial expression and were alive and well, but this one was not at all life, lifeless, as if dead.

Qi Baishi laughed out loud and said to picture seeker,"That shrimp that wraps itself around its head is a dead shrimp by nature. It's like a businessman who gives away a good thing for wrapping his head. ?" !"

In addition to his love for shrimp, Qi Baishi also loves cabbage very much. In Qi Baishi's eyes, cabbage is most aura vegetable, which is inseparable from his difficult childhood, when only cabbage accompanied him.

There was such an interesting history in capital. It is said that Qi Baishi was once painting houses in last years of his life when he heard noise of merchants on street. Looking around, it turned out that peddler was carrying a cart with green cabbage.

This made Qi Baishi so greedy that he wanted to buy this cartload of cabbage to satisfy his appetite, but he had no evidence at hand. So Qi Baishi came up with a coup, drew a life-like cabbage himself, and recklessly chased peddler, intending to exchange things for something.

Qi Baishi thought to himself,With his reputation in capital's painting circles, there is an endless stream of people who come in search of paintings. Obviously, small merchants were making money by exchanging paintings for a cart of cabbages.” Unexpectedly, Qi Baishi, who had this idea, was rejected by peddler.

How trader knew Qi Baishi, all he knew was that this white-bearded old man wanted to trade painted fake cabbage for his own real cabbage wagon, which was actually a dream.

So merchant rolled his eyes and said, "Go away, old man, you want to be beautiful!" Qi Baishi had never been so offended, so he argued with merchant, claiming that his cabbage was painstakingly processed This work, even if it is taken out, there are countless high-ranking persons vying for it, but you look down on it so much.

However, peddler didn't like it at all. He felt that despite everything, painted fake cabbage wasn't worth as much as his fresh cabbage. The normal old man even threatened to do so.

This frightened Qi Baishi, and he hurried away in desperation. On way home, he muttered under his breath: "This is truly decline of world, this is an insult to gentlemen, this is an insult to Lord!"

Qi Baishi has done many such absurd things in his life, all because of his unrestrained attitude towards life. In depths of his soul, Qi Baishi never felt that painting brought him fame. He always felt that his paintings were enough to bring happiness to others.

This also causes him to not consider himself an artist, but like normal people, he will be greedy for small gains and treat others with humor.

This is why Qi Baishi is admirable, and it is because of his indifferent pursuit of fame and fortune that his paintings are full of aura no matter what time they are.