‘The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting’ @ Seattle Center

It’s not everyday that a rarely seen and difficult-to-access work of art comes to you, let alone in an extraordinary fashion. But this summer, Seattleites can experience just that when a painting comes to life. 📜

Presented by the China Oriental Performing Arts Group, the acclaimed dance drama “The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting” is setting out on a highly anticipated North American tour this summer, traveling from Vancouver, British Columbia to Los Angeles, California.

The legendary landscape painting in question? “A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.” This Northern Song Dynasty landscape scroll is such an unparalleled treasure, it’s seldom exhibited in the Palace Museum where it’s housed, and it’s never permitted abroad. Rendered in vivid blue-green mineral pigments and created by the prodigious 18-year-old artist Wang Ximeng, the original scroll remains an emblem of classical Chinese aesthetics and artistic transcendence. Now this timeless work of classical Chinese art has been reimagined for the world.

Through a lyrical, time-traversing narrative, the spellbinding poetic dance drama follows a modern cultural historian who journeys back nine centuries to meet the young artist. Together, they illuminate the creative odyssey behind the painting. A meditation on devotion, ingenuity and artistic legacy, the performance transforms pigment into motion — every movement a brushstroke, every dancer a thread in a living tapestry. But this isn’t just a performance — it’s a living scroll that brings centuries of art and culture to life before your eyes.

“The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting” premiered in 2021 at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. In fewer than four years, the performance garnered over 700 sold-out shows that were celebrated for their synthesis of stagecraft, costume design, scenic composition, hairstyling, musicality and choreography — all meticulously attuned to traditional Chinese artistic sensibilities.

“The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting” is an enduring tribute to an Eastern masterpiece across time, cultures and civilizations.