Bada Shanren dating history

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Bada Shanren (八大山人) was a late-Ming and early-Qing dynasty Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet. He was born in Nanchang, Jiangxi, in 1626, at the cusp of a dynastic transition. He spent most of his early to mid-life in the Buddhist monkhood, returning to Nanchang when he was about fifty. He embarked on an artistic career soon after reentering secular life in 1680, producing works that featured his calligraphy, painting, and poetry. Most of the time, he painted simple subjects like flowers, plants, and animals and kept most of the given space empty. Toward the end of his life, he started painting more landscapes. As a Ming loyalist, he often expressed his dissatisfaction with the Qing government through his work.