The painting is a joint work by Au Ho-nien, professor at the University of Chinese Culture in Taipei, Taiwan, and Liu Kuo-sung, senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It was created on the occasion of the joint exhibition of the two artists at the Museum für Kunsthandwerk (today’s Museum Angewandte Kunst) in 1979. The tree, painted in expressive brushstrokes with lush foliage, is by Au Ho-nien, the banks, painted with broad brushstrokes like abstract forms, are by Liu Kuo-sung.
The painting thus combines the Lingnan School, popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan and still adhering to traditional Chinese painting, with Liu Kuo-sung's style of modernist ink painting based on Western models, in which the pictorial language of Abstract Expressionism is recognizable. The expressive handwriting of the two signatures and the beautifully cut seals bear witness to the autochthonous calligraphic heritage they share.