What are the artistic characteristics of colored sculptures and paintings in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in different periods? What does it reflect?

According to the theme, artistic style and expression of the murals in Mogao Grottoes, it can be roughly divided into three periods: early, middle and late.

The murals in Mogao Grottoes have different styles in different periods:

1, early Buddhist story painting is the main:

The early period is the growing period of Dunhuang Grottoes. Murals include Buddha paintings, Buddhist story paintings, China traditional fairy tales, decorative patterns and portraits of patrons, among which Buddhist story paintings are the main ones.

2. The mid-term mainly reflects life and local conditions and customs:

The mid-term mural painting is the heyday of grotto art, including Tang Dynasty and Shang Dynasty. Reduced the content of murals and story paintings, and described them from the beginning according to the local conditions and customs at that time. The life reflected is more extensive, the characterization is more profound and the theme performance is more obvious.

3. In the later period, the main performance is a simple theme:

Late murals include the Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Xixia and Yuan Dynasty. Portraits of patrons, leaders of various ethnic groups and their families are gathered in a cave. It has added a lot of brilliance to the mural art of Mogao Grottoes. The theme of the mural is simple, only the pavilion and Buddha view on the terrace, surrounded by heaven and man, lotus, pool and metaplasia, without any storyline. I don't know why these paintings are named as a common theme.

Summing up the above three periods, we can see that the murals in Dean's grottoes show the creative talents and achievements of ancient artists in all aspects, and these achievements are always obtained by inheriting the excellent traditions of the previous generation, observing and studying life and working hard.