Introduction

     The National Palace Museum has remained deeply devoted to expanding our collections ever since our opening in Taipei in the 54th year of the Republic of China (1965). In addition to updating of our acquisition strategy annually, we also oversee a donation system that encourages the owners of collections congruent with our mission to make gifts to the museum. In this way, masterpieces once held in private hands are able to be shared publically for the enjoyment of all.

     The exhibition in this gallery highlights a selection of masterpieces donated to the NPM, most of which entered our collections in the recent past. Our goal is for this exhibition to deepen research into donated artworks at the museum, promote gift giving, and involve the general public in the appreciation of our shared cultural inheritance. The works in this exhibition are primarily by calligraphers and painters who were active during the middle and later years of the Qing dynasty and during the Republican era. They include Shitao (1642-1708), Liu Yong (1720-1805), Guan Lianchang (1809-1870), Tang Peihua (1830-1900), and Wu Ping (1920-2019). In addition to thanking the donors of these artworks for their selfless generosity, we eagerly anticipate people from all walks of life helping to make the NPM into humanity’s shared pride and joy.