Birds and Flowers in a Landscape of the Four Seasons

Sesshū Tōyō’s ‘Birds and Flowers in a Landscape of the Four Seasons’ is a six-panel folding screen. Created between 1550 and 1599, it combines ink and color on paper. Cleveland Museum of Art.

Sesshū Tōyō was a Japanese Zen monk and painter. Born in 1420 into the samurai Oda family, he became a master of ink painting, merging Japanese and Chinese styles.

Sesshū’s work often reflects Zen Buddhist aesthetics. His paintings feature flattened perspectives and emphatic lines, capturing landscapes, portraits, and nature.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
https://clevelandart.org/art/1961.204