Art, Music & Film
The Met adds 38 paintings by ink painter Chang Dai-chien
The New York museum announced the group on September 17, 2026. It includes his famous “splashed-ink” paintings of the 1960s.
On September 17, 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, known as the Met, announced that it had acquired 38 paintings by the Chinese ink painter Chang Dai-chien. His name is also written Zhang Daqian, and he lived from 1899 to 1983. The works come from the collection of his daughter, Sing Sheng Chang, who received them from her father and mother. According to the museum, they cover every stage of his long career.
To understand his work, it helps to know how Chinese ink painting is made. Artists use a brush on paper or silk, and the ink traditionally comes as a solid stick or cake made from pine soot and a binding material. Before painting, they drip a little water onto a special stone called an inkstone and grind the ink stick against it. The same black ink can then give many tones, from sharp dark lines to soft, pale gray washes.
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On September 17, 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, known as the Met, announced that it had acquired 38 paintings by the Chinese ink painter Chang Dai-chien.