Aesthetics of Modern European Painting was written in 1983. At the time, the motivation for writing this book was very simple and straightforward: I wanted to fill a gap in the field of aesthetics. I thought, although some domestic newspapers and magazines had begun to introduce articles on Western modern art, Chinese readers might need a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the intellectual background behind Western modern art. This was crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of something that had been regarded as a "dangerous force" during the Cultural Revolution.
Prior to that, in 1982 (the first year after I graduated from university), I was translating a book titled Theories of Modern Art, edited by the American scholar Peter Selz. This translation provided me with a wealth of materials and taught me a great deal. The process of constantly consulting, comparing, and reflecting during the translation sparked in me the desire to interpret these ideas further. Coupled with the thoughts I had mentioned earlier, I was able to complete Aesthetics of Modern European Painting the following year.
This was my first book (although, due to various reasons, its publication was delayed and it came out after Modern Painting: A New Language of Images, which I wrote in 1987). When I look back and read it now, it feels familiar and dear to me. It reminds me of the spirited, eager-to-learn, bold, and highly confident mindset I had at that time.