Living Aloft: Master Liu's Retreat

Wen Zhengming painted Living Aloft for his friend Liu Lin (1474-1561), who, at the age of seventy, had retired from government service but had not yet built a home suitable for his new life. In his painting, Wen presents an idealized vision of life in retirement: separated from the outside world by a stream and rustic wall, two friends enjoy each other's company in a two-story hall that is further isolated in a tall grove of trees. Wen elaborates on the pleasures of such a life in his accompanying poem:

Immortals have always delighted in pavilion-living: Windows open on eight sides - eyebrows smiling, Overhead towers and halls welling up,
Down below "cloud and thunder" halls dimly viewed.
Reclining on a dais, a glimpse of Japan;
Leaning on a balustrade, the sight of Manchuria.
While worldly affairs shift and change
The lofty man is centered and at peace.