Gentle and Firm Strength

作品賞析

This work, Gentle and Firm Strength, is a profound depiction of the artist Lee Yi-Hsuan’s father, among the crops on his farmland. The picture enlarges the size of the broccoli, making it fill much of the picture and become the main subject—it has become like a large tree. The image of this tree, a symbol of strength, is used by Lee as a metaphor for the importance of her father to the family. The painting thus depicts how her father supported the family quietly and with warmth. The butterflies flitting through the scene are the common white-spotted butterflies one sees in the fields. In her eyes, they accompany her father in the field silently, in the same way that her father, a man of few words, guarded the home. He is the only human figure in the painting, walking through the field, wearing rain boots, and carrying a bucket. His joys and sorrows cannot be discerned—his face is left blank for the viewer’s imagination to fill in. Here a father’s constant protection of the family and his unstinting effort on their behalf, no matter what the cost, is presented in symbolic fashion.