Discuss the themes and significance of Guo Xi's Early Spring. Be sure to make reference to the materials in the MyArtsLab CloserLook on the painting

What will be an ideal response?

Guo Xi's Early Spring is based on the Chinese figure for mountain. The overall painting and the individual brush and paint strokes are based on this figure. Guo Xi is interest in the balance rhythm and harmony of line. For the Chinese nature is an eternal all encompassing presence. The human figures in the right foreground are dwarfed by the landscape which is the primary focus of the painting.

Guo Si, his son, recorded Guo Xi's views on painting in the book the Lofty Message of the Forest and the Streams. In this work, the central peak in the painting is interpreted as the emperor himself while the tall pines surrounding it represent the noble ideals of court life.

The painting also exhibits multiple points of perspective signifying the Chinese belief that everything in the universe has its proper place. For example, the central mountain is situated so that we have to gaze up at in the far distance, just as we would to the emperor himself.