President Trump and the oil painting Prayer by a Chinese artist

By Du Guoyong, November 6th

Donald Trump is making appointments to shape his cabinet, having won the 2024 presidential election again, with over 270 electoral votes and sweeping victories in the swing states. President Trump has become the second non-consecutive president in the history of the United States of America. Trump officially announced his victory at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida. The atmosphere there was lively, noisy and electric.

Trump, the Republican candidate, has successfully defeated the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to regain the White House with his strong performance in multiple key states. His victory not only marks a new round of changes in the political landscape of the US, but also has sparked widespread attention and discussion in the world. The Sino-US relationship during Trump 2.0 will most lilkely be one of the key talking points.     

Diplomatically the road ahead may be bumpy, there is potential to continue cultural exchanges as demonstrated by the experience of a Chinese artist and his works.

An oil painting called Prayer created by the Chinese painter Zhang Yan and was originally titled Sho Dun Festival. In the golden autumn of 2019, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the oil painting boarded a flight from Beijing to the US, embarking on a Journey of Cross Pacific Folk Art Exchange between China and the US.

It has been reported that when Trump admired Zhang Yan's oil painting collection, he developed a strong interest in Sho Dun Festival and personally renamed it Prayer. Then, this painting was exhibited temporarily at Trump's golf estate in New Jersey, the Summer White House, marking an important debut of oil painting by a Chinese artist in the US.

The painting Prayer not only showcases the virtuosity of Zhang Yan, but also conveys the beautiful vision of the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. Trump's love and admiration for this painting has undoubtedly injected new vitality into cultural exchanges between China and the US. Just as conveyed by this painting, "changed life requires prayer, a man of prayer is blessed"; the Chinese and American people share mutual learning and understandingthrough cultural exchanges to jointly promote the prosperity and development of human civilization.  

The re-election of Trump and the legendary story of the painting Prayer have taken on a new meaning and formed a attractive landscape of the 2024 presidential election. Looking forward to further deepening cooperation between China and the US in cultural exchanges, and contributing more wisdom and strength to building the community of shared future for mankind, let’s pray that Trump’s new term can bring prosperity to the American people and a stable future for the world despite of the difficulties.

Zhang Yan: Chinese oil painter, documentary director, and founder of Getarts.cn.

The two oil paintings by Mr. Zhang, Iron Staff Lama (1993) and Arm (2013), have been permanently collected by the Vatican Museums, making him the first living artist whose work is permanently collected by the Vatican Museums. In 2022, Mr. Zhang was invited by the Vatican to paint the iconic Smiling Pope for Pope John Paul I, the first Chinese artist to be so honored by the Vatican.