Liu Dan
(Chinese, b. 1953)
Narcissus
Ink and color on paper
signed and inscribed, dated lunar year renwu (2002), with one artist's seal, Liu.


劉丹
（1953- ）
水仙圖
設色紙本，鏡框
2002年作
釋文：
仙子凌波佩陸離，文魚先乘殿馮夷，積水斷雪揚靈夜，鼓瑟吹竽會舞時。海上瑤池春不斷，人間金碗事堪疑。天寒日暮花無語，清淺蓬萊當問誰。
雨帶風襟玉體寒，為誰解佩在江干。金枝翠​​鈿那得复，只愁歸去便乘鵉。
青竹珠簾人似玉，霧鬓風鬟綴靈粟。一笑誤翻金叵羅，香濕群僊翠褂襡。龍國朝囘八鳳舞，舞池醉度凌波曲。瑤瑟雙歌李白詞，馮夷捧出蘭縑綠。
水仙花上兩垂垂，絕侶清華賜浴時。況是亲承恩澤後，托根只合在瑤池。冰肌冷浸六華香，姑射仙人試曉妆。門外玉京天咫尺，金璫瑤佩謁明光。
冰薄沙昏短草枯，采香人远隔湘湖；谁留夜月羣仙珮，绝勝秋风九畹图。
梁園池館日蒼涼，飛蓋追隨憶故鄉。澤畔行吟春事晚，時時駐履近微香。
白粲銅盤傾沆瀣，清明寶玦破珊瑚。卻憐不得同蘭蕙，一識清醒楚大夫。
款識：壬午年（2002）劉丹畫。
鈐印：劉
Image: 11 x 16 in., 28 x 40.5 cm; framed: 21 x 25 1/2 in., 53.5 x 64 cm.

Whether it is from a life sketch or from a photograph, [the flowers'] shapes are formed initially in order not to forget. Now what has been painted has become the remembered.
-Liu Dan
Painted in 2002, this Narcissus belongs to a series of flower paintings that Liu Dan began in the late 1990s when he was living in New York. Liu delicately painted the slender leaves and the cluster of flowers blooming from an elegant stem, along with fine calligraphy of poems and ancient verses about the narcissus flower. Offering the promise of spring, the narcissus is known in Chinese culture as the "water goddess" (shuixian) or the "goddess who stands above the waves" (lingbo xianzi).
The flowers depicted by Liu appear to be more beautiful than in reality. Blossoms are usually transient, and capturing the moments blurs the line between imagination and experience. The portrait of the narcissus appears almost timeless with a spiritual energy. Liu Dan once shared that 'What I strive to build or 'restore' is the relationship between a painting's fundamental elements. This relationship can be found somewhere between a visual impression, an image, and the concept of the microcosm. I try to identity this relationship and endow it with an epic puissance through brushwork.'