Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Drunken Monk
Fu Baoshi Chinese
Not on view
The Tang Buddhist monk and calligrapher Huaisu (725–ca. 799), who often drank heavily to eliminate inhibitions before practicing calligraphy, composed the following poem in response to a painting of a drunken calligrapher-monk:
Everybody delivers wine,
It remains untouched.
All day amid the pines hangs a bottle.
The Cursive Script Sage goes mad as an inspiration comes.
All is captured in the “Drunken Monk.”
—Trans. Anita Chung
Fu Baoshi, who also sought uninhibited artistic liberation through wine, must have found this theme particularly appealing. His seal “Often after Becoming Drunk” is testament to his conviction that inebriation fostered spontaneous expression.
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