Shining Tibet: The Territory of Inner Light

The symbolism of the title of the exhibition “Shine of Tibet” in the Marble Palace of the Russian Museum, which contains about 40 works, is anthropocentric. Han Yuchen’s canvases literally absorbed a lot of sunlight. But there is also an expressive subtext in the title: it is primarily about the inner radiance that shines through the eyes of the characters in the paintings.

The image of autonomy turned out to be non-classical: for Han Yuchen, it was formed primarily from portraits of its inhabitants – the face of a nomad shepherd, wrinkled and scorched by the scorching sun, women wrapped in bright striped scarves, walking through the snow, not hunching under the weight of their simple belongings and not bending under the force of the wind. From the paintings of Han Yuchen, people hardened by life look at us, standing firmly on the ground and open to all the elements.