Focus on this artwork and explore the Composition.
The Founding of the Nation was one of several paintings commissioned for the new Museum of the Chinese Revolution from faculty members at CAFA.  Two of these, Luo Gongliu's Tunnel Warfare and Wang Shikuo's Sending Him Off to the Army, were completed in 1951; The Founding of the Nation was finished the following year.  These commissions were regarded as from the government and were highly prestigious.  State assistance, such as access to archives, was available.At the time CAFA chose Dong, he was painting workers at the Shijingshan power plant outside Beijing.  Dong reviewed the photographs of the event, but found them unsatisfactory as none showed both the leaders and the people gathered in the square below, which he felt was necessary.  He created a postcard-size sketch, but was dissatisfied with it, feeling it did not capture the grandeur of the occasion.  Taking advice from other artists, Dong made adjustments to his plan.Dong rented a small room in western Beijing above a store selling soy sauce.  Jiang intervened to give Dong time and space to create the painting; the artist needed three months to complete his work.  The room was smaller than the painting, which is four meters wide, and Dong would affix part of the canvas to the ceiling, working on his back.  To save commuting time, he slept in a chair.  He smoked cigarettes constantly as he worked.  His daughter brought meals, but he was often unable to eat.  Once the painting was under way, several of Dong's colleagues, including oil painter Ai Zhongxin, came to visit.  They decided that the figure of Mao, the central one of the painting, was not tall enough.  Dong removed the figure of Mao from the canvas, and painted him again, increasing his height by just under an inch (2.54 cm).In painting the sky and the pillars, Dong used a pen and brush, as if doing a traditional Chinese painting.  He depicted the clothing in detail; Madame Song wears gloves showing flowers, while Zhang Lan's silk robe appears carefully ironed for the momentous day.  Dong used sawdust to enhance the texture of the carpet on which Mao stands; he painted the marble railing as yellowish rather than white, thus emphasizing the age of the Chinese nation.  The leaders in the painting were asked to examine their portraits for accuracy.
Beijing soy sauce Zhang Lan Chinese Shijingshan Ai Zhongxin sawdust