There is a place where everyone wants to visit and dreams of staying forever. We call such a place an ideal land. Sometimes it emerges out of our fantasy to escape agonizing reality, and sometimes it is born out of social critiques proposing alternative solutions.

Landscapes: Seeking the Ideal Land presents a diverse array of images of idyllic worlds that people in East Asia have dreamt of and even attempted to enact. One of the most fundamental aspects of an ideal land is magnificent and mysterious natural scenery, which people have always associated with virtue, prosperity, and spiritual peace. In East Asian art, there are two main themes for landscape painting: actual mountains known for their spectacular scenery, and idealized landscapes, such as Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers, Nine-Bend Streams in the Wuyi Mountain, and Peach Blossom Spring.

This special exhibition features landscape paintings that attempt to capture the harmony between individuals, society, and the natural world. The displayed works impart gorgeous representations of an ideal land or paradise, allowing us to contemplate how people of the past defined their world and society, and how their ideas varied from our own today.