![Yue Minjun - Great Joy [1993-94]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/15397841746_6d3476c1dd_o.jpg)
Born in 1962 in Heilongjiang, Yue Minjun is part of the third generation of artists after the Cultural Revolution. In 1991, his move to the artist village Yuanmingyuan on the outskirt of Beijing was an important turning point in the young artist’s career. It was during his stay there where he could experience true artistic freedom away from the limits imposed by the government and academia. One of his first paintings created in Yuanmingyuan in 1991 was On the Rostrum of Tiananmen. It is often considered to be representative of his early period as it depicts four Chinese youths with different appearances standing atop the gate at Tiananmen Square where Mao Zedong pronounced the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with one of them laughing beyond the frame. As one will see, only two years later, Yue was able to reinvent the image of the Tiananmen rostrum with Great Joy, developing both in terms of scale and composition.
[Sotheby’s, Hong Kong - Oil on canvas, 182.4 x 251.9 cm]