One Painting. One Gasp. A Changed Life.
Touched by Colour: A Moment with Wang Pan-Youn
In May 2018, a dear friend with a deep understanding of art recommended that I visit By the Passing of a Thousand Sails — a retrospective exhibition of Wang Pan-Youn’s work.
I was stunned by his use of colour. The way he layered bold yet gentle tones, leaving space and breath on the canvas, created a sense of stillness and openness. Each painting delivered a different kind of emotional impact—quiet, powerful, and unforgettable.
As I stood before those paintings, I felt something shift dramatically inside me.
It wasn’t just beautiful — it was a moment that touched something deep in my life, for some unnameable reason.
Sometimes, all it takes is one painting to change how you see the world. For me, these paintings did exactly that.
Sunrise at Taipingshan
Image credit: Luodong Forest District Office, photographed by Hu Jiansen
How a Painting Shifted My Life Path?
A Painting That Reignited My Life
It all started with a spontaneous visit to an art exhibition, after a casual lunch with a friend.
It was just a quiet afternoon. But one painting caught me off guard.
It reignited a longing for art that I had buried long ago, when the school system pulled me away from what I truly loved.
As I stood there in front of it, my friend turned to me and asked:
“You love art so much. Why not change careers? You’re a grown person.”
I almost laughed, and felt a bit mad. How dare he tell me what to do! Haha.
I was 39, with no formal training, and already on a completely different path.
Still, that question planted a quiet seed of hope inside me.
A Late Career Shift, Fueled by Intuition
Driven by instinct more than a plan, I started to act.
I enrolled in:
- 980 hours of government-funded graphic design training
- 586 hours of private web development courses
- Over a year and a half of digital art, video effects, web design, and 3D modelling
- Community art courses exploring various materials and styles
By the time I turned 42, I had made the shift.
I stepped back onto a creative path I thought I had lost forever.
Eight Years of Artmaking — and a Way Out of the Fog
Art became more than a passion. It became a form of healing.
Each creation became a space of awareness.
Every brushstroke, texture, and colour helped me make sense of emotions I couldn’t name.
They helped release frozen energy, and brought me gently back to life.
From Fog to Clarity — Becoming an Art Therapist
I walked through years of inner fog
until I could finally see a blueprint of my future.
That vision eventually led me to train as an art therapist —
someone who could guide others to reconnect with themselves through creative expression.
To help others:
- Find themselves
- Understand themselves
- Heal themselves
Because what holds us back isn’t a lack of ability.
It’s the absence of spaces where we are seen, allowed, and accepted.
And art, to me, is that space.
About the Exhibition and the Artist
By the Passing of a Thousand Sails
By the Passing of a Thousand Sails was a retrospective exhibition held in 2018 by the National Museum of History in Taiwan. It showcased many of the most iconic works from Wang Pan-Youn’s life.
From his deep and meditative landscapes to his bold, emotionally rich use of colour, each painting quietly speaks of his reflections on nature, life, and the human spirit. This was more than an exhibition—it felt like a gentle walk through the soul of the artist.
About the Artist: Wang Pan-Youn
Wang Pan-Youn (1922–2017), often called the hermit of painting, was a key figure in modern Taiwanese art. He was known for blending the poetic essence of Eastern ink painting with the expressive colours of Western art.
After graduating from the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Wang moved to Taiwan in 1949 and settled in the quiet plains of Yilan. He spent his life teaching and painting, developing a deeply personal style marked by simplicity, solitude, and silence.
His artworks often feature broad colour fields and deliberate empty space. Themes like “emptiness”, “distance”, “lightness”, and “simplicity” appear throughout his work, along with recurring symbols—red suns, boats, fading lotus leaves—that express his emotions toward life, longing, and nature.
Wang received the National Award for Arts in Taiwan, and his contribution is widely recognised as an important part of Taiwan’s art history.