page_title: The Founding Ceremony of the Nation
section_title: Subject and techniques
hierarchical_section_title: The Founding Ceremony of the Nation / Subject and techniques
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of mural commemorating victory of General Zhang Yichao over the Tibetans. Dunhuang Mogao cave 156, Late Tang Dynasty.
context_page_description: The Founding Ceremony of the Nation is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist officials inaugurating the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism, it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. The painting was repeatedly revised, and a replica painting made to accommodate further changes, as the leaders it depicted fell from power and later were rehabilitated.
  After the Communists took control of China, they sought to memorialize their achievements through artworks. Dong was commissioned to create a visual representation of the October 1 ceremony, which he had attended. He viewed it as essential that the painting show both the people and their leaders. After working for three months, he completed an oil painting in a folk art style, drawing upon Chinese art history for the contemporary subject. The success of the painting was assured when Mao viewed it and liked it, and it was reproduced in large numbers for display in the home.
  The 1954 purge of Gao Gang from the government resulted in Dong being ordered to remove him from the painting.
context_section_description: The painting depicts the inaugural ceremony of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.  The focus is on Mao, who stands on Tiananmen Gate's balcony, reading his proclamation into (originally) two microphones.  Dong took some liberties with the appearance of Tiananmen Gate, opening up the space in front of Mao to grant the chairman a more direct connection with his people, something that architect Liang Sicheng deemed a mistake for a builder, but artistically brilliant.  Five doves fly into the sky to Mao's right.  Before him on Tiananmen Square, honor guards and members of patriotic organizations are assembled in orderly ranks, with some holding banners.  Qianmen, the gate at the south end of the square, is visible, as is Yongdingmen gate (seen to the left of Mao).  Beyond the old city walls that at the time enclosed the square (they were torn down in the 1950s), the city of Beijing is visible, and in green is represented the nation of China, with those further scenes under bright sunlight and sharply defined clouds.  October 1 had been an overcast day in Beijing; Dong took artistic license with the weather.
  To Mao's left are seen his lieutenants in the Communist takeover.  In the original painting, the front row, which is ordered by rank, consisted of (from left) General Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Madame Song Qingling (the widow of Sun Zhongshan), Li Jishen, Zhang Lan (with beard), and at far right, General Gao Gang.  Zhou Enlai was furthest left in the second row, and beside him were Dong Biwu, two men whose identities are uncertain, and furthest right, Guo Moruo.  Lin Boqu was furthest left in the third row.  The leaders congregate close to each other, while remaining a respectful distance from Mao.  This emphasizes his primacy, as does the fact that he is depicted as taller than his lieutenants.  The point of view of the observer is well back on the balcony, from which most of the square would be obscured by the floor.  Rather than show only Mao and sky, Dong manipulated the perspective, raising the horizon and intensifying the foreshortening of the balcony.  Necessarily, only the officials and not the crowd below are represented as individuals; art historian Wu Hung wrote that "the parading masses in the Square derive strength from a collective anonymity.  The combination of the two—above and below, the leaders and the people—constitutes a comprehensive representation of New China."
  Mao and his officials are surrounded by lanterns, symbols of prosperity; the chrysanthemums on either side symbolize longevity.  The doves represent peace restored to a nation long wracked by war.  The new five-star flag of China, rising over the people, represents the end of the feudal system and the rebirth of the nation as the People's Republic.  Mao, who is presented as a statesman, not as the revolutionary leader he was during the conflict, faces Qianmen, aligning himself along Beijing's old imperial North-South Axis, symbolizing his authority.  The chairman is at the center of multiple, concentric circles in the painting, with the innermost formed by the front row of his comrades, another by the people in the square, and the outermost the old city walls.  Surrounding them are the sunlit scenes, envisioning a glorious future for China with Mao the heart of the nation.
  Although Dong had been trained in Western painting, he chose a folk art style for The Founding of the Nation, using bright, contrasting colors in a manner similar to that of New Year's prints popular in China.  He stated in 1953, "the Chinese people like bright, intense colors.  This convention is in line with the theme of The Founding Ceremony of the Nation.  In my choice of colors I did not hesitate to put aside the complex colors commonly adopted in Western painting as well as the conventional rules for oil painting."  Artists in the early years of the People's Republic, including Dong, sought to satisfy Chinese aesthetic tastes in their works and so depicted their subjects in  bright original color, avoiding complex use of light and shadow on faces as in many W
caption: Dong borrowed techniques from the Dunhuang murals of the Tang Dynasty.
exif: {}