Ai Weiwei is one of contemporary art's most influential and uncompromising voices. Born in Beijing in 1957, he grew up in exile with his father, the celebrated poet Ai Qing, after the family was exiled during the Anti-Rightist Campaign in China. These formative experiences of political oppression, expulsion, and censorship continue to shape an oeuvre encompassing sculpture, architecture, photography, film, and activism. Often provocative and personal, his art is driven by the conviction that artistic expression is inextricably linked to political and ethical responsibility. As Ai says: “Everything is art. Everything is politics.” (Ai Weiwei, quoted from Larry Warsch, Weiwei-isms, Princeton 2012). Throughout his career, Ai has challenged authorities, questioned official narratives, and addressed the fragility of freedom in modern society. His practice combines Eastern philosophy with Western conceptualism, drawing on Chinese craft traditions while engaging in dialogue with a global visual culture. This dual perspective allows him to engage with historical memory and contemporary political crises. His triptych “After Les Nuages” (2024) illustrates this approach impressively. The three-dimensional relief print, derived from his monumental LEGO work “Water Lilies #1” (2022), interprets Claude Monet's impressionist paintings from a striking modern angle. Where Monet sees a tranquil beauty in the water lily ponds of his Giverny garden, Ai adds a dark portal on the right side of the image—a symbol of the shelter where he and his father lived during their exile in Xinjiang in the 1960s. Our “After Les Nuages” replaces Monet's brushstrokes with pixelated, precise, abstract, and universal plastic units. Like Monet's Impressionism, the image's effect only becomes apparent from a distance: the fragmented elements come together to form a coherent composition with a deeper meaning. This visual language is preserved in the relief, combining tactile elegance with conceptual depth. As a result, the work is not merely an homage to Monet but a dense narrative of personal loss, artistic resilience, and political resistance. [KA]