Daoism in Chinese Arts
Reading Dao through Painting
The Daoist Talks series follows Friedrich Zettl’s readings of Chinese painting, poetry and philosophical texts. A single dot, a bamboo leaf or the movement of a fish becomes a way to consider naturalness, attention and the relationship between a part and the whole.
Each essay develops a particular question through visual examples. Daoist concepts inform these readings, while Chan and Zen enter where the works or the author’s reflections call for them.
New readers can begin with The Basics. The series is presented below from the most recent contribution back to its beginning. Further studies are collected in Asian Art Essays.
The Series
Daoist Talks XI
Dot and Emptiness: The Essence of Chinese Art — Lecture of 9 January 2026 at Café Museum.
A dot gains its weight through the space around it. This lecture considers how brush marks and unpainted paper work together, and how omission can shape a composition as decisively as the marks themselves.
The discussion connects these observations with wu wei: an approach to making in which practice supports an unforced gesture.
Daoist Talks X
Often translated as “non-action”, wu wei raises a practical question for a painter: how can a trained gesture remain unforced? The essay considers this through Chinese painting and Zettl’s own experience.
Daoist Talks IX
Bada Shanren Fish – the term ziran 自然
Bada Shanren’s fish provide a concrete way to approach ziran (自然), usually translated as naturalness or spontaneity. The analysis follows the movement and balance of the composition.
Bada Shanren’s fish — a diagram of the author’s reading of movement and naturalness.
Daoist Talks VIII
A reflection on ego and self, and on how the wish to assert oneself can affect attention. Painted examples accompany a comparison of Western and Daoist perspectives.
Daoist Talks VII
Li Bai’s poetry and images associated with Du Fu lead into a discussion of nature, expression and the relationship between verse and painting. Works by Wang Ziwu accompany the reading.
Daoist Talks VI
Bamboo leaves, a dancer and a painted flower help examine the relationship between learned forms and naturalness. The apparent ease of a brushstroke is considered alongside the practice that makes it possible.
Bamboo brushwork: individual leaves become rhythms through pressure, direction and spacing.
Daoist Talks V
Dao and Zen in Chinese Painting: An AI Experiment
A conversation from 2022 prompted Zettl to ask an AI program about Dao and Zen in painting. The essay preserves the response as an experiment and reflects on its generalisations and on the artist’s own position.
Daoist Talks IV
Liang Kai: The Story of Eight Eminent Monks
A closer look at Liang Kai’s narrative scroll opens questions about Chan Buddhist subjects, painted stories and the philosophical associations brought to an image.
Daoist Talks III
A small mark can carry much of a painting’s movement and structure. This essay considers the dot through Chinese painting and the relation between an individual element and the whole.
Daoist Talks II
An introduction to the questions behind the series, using painted examples and comparisons to make Daoist ideas approachable.
Daoist Talks I
Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream in Ink Painting
Two Daoist stories offer an entry into questions of perception and transformation. Zettl relates them to a painting of his own, allowing a philosophical story to become a painter’s problem.
Goldfish Dream — a painter’s response to Zhuangzi’s question of perception.
Related, recommended topics
Dao and Zen
From Daoism to Zen in Chinese Painting
A discussion of how Daoist and Chan or Zen ideas enter the way paintings are made and read, with examples from Zettl’s work.
Learning from Huang Binhong
Huang Binhong: Copying Old Masters
Zettl’s study after Huang Binhong considers copying as a way of learning: attending to the organisation and energy of a painting while developing an individual response.
Huang Binhong — the original landscape used as a model for a study.
Zha Shibiao: Balance in an Album Leaf
Zha Shibiao: A Simple Painting and Yet a Treasure
A small album leaf asks for close attention to a boat, a figure and a few economical marks. The reading shows how much a modest composition can hold.
Mu Qi Key Work: Six Persimmons
Six fruits, subtle changes of ink and carefully judged intervals form the basis of this reading. The essay stays close to the visual decisions that give the painting its presence.
Six Persimmons by Muqi — ink tone and interval in Chan painting.
Empty Space in Chinese Painting
Empty Space in Chinese Painting
Unpainted paper participates in the image. This essay considers the void through specific works and asks how absence can give painted forms their weight.
The discussion provides a visual starting point for the later studies of dots, omission and emptiness in the series.
Bada Shanren — flowering branches and a vase, held within open paper.
The Importance of a Dot
Pressure, speed and placement give a short stroke its character. The essay follows these small decisions and their effect on an entire painting.
About the Author:
Friedrich Zettl is an Austrian painter and scholar of Chinese art. He studied painting, calligraphy and seal carving at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and completed his dissertation on xieyi painting at the University of Vienna in 1987.
His essays bring this research into conversation with the experience of making paintings.
Related articles: Xieyi Painting | Principles of Dao in Painting | Wu Wei
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Available Artworks
Original works are available on FriedrichZettl.com and Saatchi Art