The original Qi Baishi received a basket of cherries from his friends, and then he gave back a bowl of cherries. After many years, this bowl of cherries asked for tens of millions.
There is a famous artist and painter in China. He is gifted in painting. He was born in Xingdoutang, Xingziwu, Baishipu, Xiangtan, Changsha, Hunan Province. His name is Chun Zhi, and his word is Lan Ting. He is Qi Baishi.
I believe many people have heard the story of Qi Baishi when they were young, and they have also learned an article about Qi Baishi’s painting of dead shrimp in primary school textbooks. Qi Baishi was born at the end of feudalism, and his thoughts were still somewhat tight. He had a hard life since childhood, and eating was a problem, so these memories had a great impact on his later life.
Qi Baishi’s "haggle over every ounce" in painting
From ancient times to the present, everyone who has made great achievements in a certain field in China is broad-minded. Whether you can become everyone depends mainly on your mind, and no one who is narrow-minded becomes everyone. However, Qi Baishi is indeed an exception. Qi Baishi haggles over money, and everything else is easy to say. Qi Baishi’s accomplishments in painting can be said to be a master, but he attaches great importance to money. It is said that how much money to give him determines what the painting will look like, which is a famous trick in the industry.
Once, a friend asked Qi Baishi to draw a picture for free, but he simply drew a picture, which made his friend lose face. Of course, if someone gives a lot of money, Qi Baishi still paints very seriously. For example, a warlord in the Republic of China not only gave Qi Baishi a large sum of money, but also sent a maid. The pinnacle of Qi Baishi’s painting is this work.
In fact, Qi Baishi did this to support his family. When he was young, he was famous for his paintings, but he didn’t have much money. When he was old, he wanted to retire in his hometown, but he was caught in war and couldn’t live a stable life at all. In this way, he was invited by a friend to stay in Beijing and live there by selling paintings.
At that time, Qi Baishi’s paintings were unpopular in Beijing. Others sold four silver dollars for a painting, and he sold two silver dollars, but no one wanted to buy it. Later, he met his noble Chen Shiceng. Chen Shiceng saw Qi Baishi’s paintings and liked them very much. It also points out that he does not imitate his predecessors, but has the artistic spirit of continuous innovation, and encourages him to ignore other people’s views on him, practice in isolation, give play to his personality and go his own way. Qi Baishi later created his own school in the history of Chinese painting, and had to thank Chen Shiceng for his insight and understanding.
Qi Baishi’s experience is very bumpy. It is no wonder that he attaches great importance to money and haggles over money. It is human nature that money is very important, but once someone is rich, he will not be too concerned about money.
"Thrift" in Qi Baishi’s Life
Thinking of grandparents’ generation, many old people are frugal and even stingy. Grandparents spend a penny and break it into two halves. Now the days are still the same. Our younger generation thinks they are too stingy. In fact, they are not stingy, but they are afraid of going back to the past and those days when they can’t eat. Speaking of this, the famous painter Qi Baishi is also a "cheapskate".
Qi Baishi is notoriously stingy in the industry. He is a native of Changsha, Hunan Province. He was born in modern times. China was invaded by western powers, the court was incompetent, and people’s lives were difficult. Qi Baishi lived a very hard life since childhood. When he was very young, he went to help people herd cattle and help his family share it. When he grew up, he followed the village carpenters to learn carpentry and earn money to make a living.
Even if Qi Baishi is famous and rich, he is still very frugal and never spends money lavishly. His childhood, including the hard life before he made his fortune, left an indelible wound on Qi Baishi. There is always a "sense of crisis", but it is very uncomfortable for Qi Baishi to bring this sense of crisis into his life.
Qi Baishi put his family property in a secret place. It is said that only he knows it. He doesn’t even trust his wife and concubines, and he cares about everything himself. This is nothing. But he even has to take care of the nanny, which is somewhat unreasonable for a great painter who is busy. Several times, the nanny at home cooked, and after eating, the nanny wanted to throw away the leftovers, but Qi Baishi didn’t let the nanny throw away the leftovers after seeing them, and later he ate the leftovers himself.
"Generous" Qi Baishi sent a friend a painting of "sky-high price"
Qi Baishi achieved fame and fame all his life, but "stingy" and "stingy" are well known by people, and stingy is synonymous with him. The stories about Qi Baishi’s various meanness are often talked about by people today.
Is Qi Baishi really as stingy as people say? By reading the story behind Qi Baishi, you will find that he is really "too generous", and it is not generally generous, because if you get one of his paintings, you will become a multimillionaire!
Human nature is often like this. The more you demand it, the less you can get it. Qi Baishi treats his friends in the same way. Friends want Qi Baishi to paint for him for free, so he simply draws it. The painting is poor, and naturally it will not be valuable in the future. But the Zhang Ding mentioned above is different. He willingly worked for Qi Baishi, and didn’t buy some food to send to Qi Baishi’s house. In this way, he sent a basket of cherries to Qi Baishi that time, and Qi Baishi happily drew a picture of cherries and gave it back to Zhang Ding, and said to Zhang Ding, "The picture I promised you long ago has never been suitable. I will give you a plate of cherries today."
In this way, a basket of cherries was exchanged for a dish of cherry pictures painted by Qi Baishi. Who would have thought that at an auction in 2010, this painting was sold at a sky-high price of 24.08 million yuan, and this painting became the most valuable of Qi Baishi’s many cherry paintings in one fell swoop. Qi Baishi is also very "generous"! A basket of cherries sent by a friend brought a gift of 20.48 million. If you live in the same era as Qi Baishi, for such an interesting old man, everyone will try their best to be friends with Qi Baishi.
Speaking of this, I think readers have got some understanding of this famous painter Qi Baishi, especially interested in his "stingy" and "stingy". We all laughed at him for being stingy. We never thought that it would be good for Qi Baishi to fill his stomach in those days, nor did we think that our beautiful life today is the result of the hard work of our grandparents and even parents, who survived the hard times, so we should cherish the happy life in front of us and don’t forget the hardships of our elders!
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