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After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (I)”

Fu Baoshi Chinese

dated 1958

Not on view

This painting was inspired by the first of two poems by Mao on eradicating disease:

And if the cowherd who lives on a star
Asks about the god of plagues,
Tell him, happy or sad, the god is gone,
Washed away in the waters.

In Fu’s illustration, a desolate scene of calamity is relieved by the appearance of the mythical herdboy announcing the arrival of better times.

After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (I)”, Fu Baoshi (Chinese, 1904–1965), Album leaf, ink and color on paper, China — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (I)”

Artist: Fu Baoshi (Chinese, 1904–1965)

Date: dated 1958

Culture: China

Medium: Album leaf, ink and color on paper

Dimensions: Image: 13 3/8 x 19 11/16 in. (34 x 50 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Lent by Nanjing Museum

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Asian Art at The Met

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.