What is it that the spring mountain is pale and smiling, the summer mountain is green and dripping, the autumn mountain is bright and clean as makeup, and the winter mountain is bleak and sleepy?

These four sentences mean that the mountain shadow in spring is as light as a beauty's smile, the mountain in summer is delicious green, the mountain in autumn is as bright as a beauty's face makeup, and the mountain in winter is bleak and colorless as if sleeping.

From Guo, a famous painter and landscape painting theorist in the Northern Song Dynasty, "The smoke of a real mountain is different in four seasons. Spring mountain is as plain as a smile, summer mountain is green, autumn mountain is as bright as makeup, and winter mountain is as bleak as sleep. " It is from the painter's point of view that the different characteristics of fog are used to describe the mountain scenery of the four seasons.

Extended data

Guo was born a commoner, believed in Taoism in his early years, traveled around the world and was famous for his paintings. In the first year of Xining, he was called into the Painting Academy and later served as an academician. Fa Licheng, a landscape teacher, created a brush in the shape of cirrus clouds, which was later called "cirrus clouds".

His landscape paintings pay attention to the in-depth observation of life, which can truly, meticulously and subtly express the characteristics of different regions, seasons and climates, and create extremely rich, beautiful and moving artistic conception. In addition, he is good at shadow play carving, and piles up relief mountains and rivers on the wall with mud, which is unique.