“Learning from outside and getting the heart from within” is a theory of artistic creation put forward by Zhang Hong, a painter of the Tang Dynasty.

“Teaching nature from outside, getting the inner source from within” is a representative statement of the theory of “learning from nature” in the history of Chinese aesthetics.

"Creation" refers to nature, and "heart source" refers to the author's inner feelings. "Learning from outside and getting the heart from within" means that artistic creation comes from learning from nature, but the beauty of nature cannot automatically become the beauty of art. For this transformation process, the artist's inner emotions and conception Settings are indispensable.

Characteristics of Zhang Hong’s landscape paintings

Another major feature of Zhang Hong’s landscape paintings is that they mainly use ink instead of five colors. This "inexpensive five colors" and "accumulation of pen and ink" ink painting method is a great breakthrough in painting techniques.

Zhang Hong has no surviving works. He also made great theoretical contributions and played an extremely important role in the development of Chinese painting. Although his "Painting" is no longer published, his He proposed the creative method of "learning from outside and getting the heart from inside" and advocated the unity of objective objects and subjective emotions. This has become an immortal saying in painting. It is of great significance in the history of Chinese art and has a great influence on the painting theory of later generations. .