“Of all the arts, music is held in the highest regard,” said Wu Guanzhong in one of his discussions on art. In classical art which began with an exclusive preoccupation with aesthetics, the emphasis first shifted to visual representation and then to music, rhythm and poetics to the extent that they are now indispensable, the painter elaborated. Central to the exhibition “Wu Guanzhong: Painting．Dance．Music” are exactly the tempo, rhythm and interplay between void and solidity that characterize Wu Guanzhong’s paintings in the use of visual elements such as dots, lines and planes. More than 20 works in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art will be on display, including the celebrated trilogy (namely Two Swallows, Former Residence of Qiu Jin and Reminiscence of Jiangnan), Wind from the Sea, Leaving Youth Behind, and The Easterly Breeze Blows Open the wisteria.

The exhibition is a special event staged in association with the dance poem “Two Swallows: Ode to Wu Guanzhong” presented by the Hong Kong Dance Company in November. Inspired by Wu Guanzhong’s paintings and enriched with multimedia effects, the programme is unprecedented in bringing together the rhythm and tempo of ink painting with those of Chinese dance set to original music performed live by a string sextet. Highlights of the programme will also be shown at the exhibition.