Chen Danqing (born in Shanghai in 1953) is a Chinese painter, writer and art critic, best known for his paintings of Tibetans. His work links the academic oil tradition of China with the experience of the Cultural Revolution and with his later contact with Western art, and he is an important reference in contemporary Chinese painting.
Born in Shanghai, he grew up there, although his family came from Chen, in Guangdong province. His interest in painting was sparked by encountering Western works, and at secondary school he began to paint in oils under a teacher, alongside young artists such as Chen Yifei and Xia Baoyuan. During the Cultural Revolution he was sent to the countryside of Jiangxi province, where he painted to ease his loneliness. He later worked as a draughtsman at a factory making urns for ashes, and settled on the outskirts of Nanjing.
In 1976 he travelled to Tibet and painted Tears Shed in the Harvest Field, showing Tibetan farmers who stop reaping when they hear of Mao Zedong's death. The work, shown at a national exhibition, brought him wide attention. In 1978 he entered the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing as a postgraduate, and stayed on to teach after graduating in 1980. There he produced the Tibet Series, which caused a stir when shown at the graduation exhibition that year.
In 1982 he moved to New York, where he worked as a professional painter and, in his own account, studied Western painting through museums and galleries. He spent around eighteen years in the United States and became an American citizen. In 2000 he returned to China to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, where his method focused on developing each student's individual artistic voice. Shortly afterwards he left the post to paint full time.
He has also written essays and collections, including Musical Notes, published in 2002, and The Book of Delay, in which he reflects critically on painting, teaching and the history of Chinese art. His work has been shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and in numerous galleries in China and the United States.