In the West, the prototype of watercolor painting existed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

As early as the Middle Ages, painters in many parts of Europe were already using water and glue to blend colors and illustrate manuscripts.

Those works painted on parchment with transparent or translucent pigments can be regarded as the precedents of European watercolor painting. The expression methods and use of colors in early watercolor paintings were relatively simple, just mixing soluble pigments with water.

The 18th century to the mid-19th century was a period of great development for watercolor art. With the improvement of the principles of perspective and color science, the expressive power of watercolor art was enhanced through continuous exploration and breakthroughs in color techniques, which transformed light color painting from monotonous to dull.

The color stage develops to the stage of decorating the landscape through color changes between different weather and light colors.

The advancement of expression skills, the understanding and growth of the nature of natural objects gradually made watercolor painting a system of its own, and further developed into the art of watercolor painting.

In China, watercolor painting started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Since watercolor painting has some similarities with traditional Chinese ink painting in terms of materials and expressions, that is, water is used as a blending agent to paint on paper, and the forms of using water and brushes are similar. Its visual appeal is implicit, euphemistic, and expressive of the Eastern nation.

Therefore, Western watercolor painting was quickly loved by the public after it was introduced to our country.

The prosperity of watercolor painting in our country began in the early Republic of China. Under the advocacy and support of Cai Yuanpei, a number of art schools emerged that taught according to the Western art education model. They hired foreign professors to teach in China and taught sketching and oil painting using life drawing methods.

, thus also promoting the growth of the watercolor professional talent team.

It has successively trained a number of influential watercolor painters such as Wang Jiyuan, Pan Sitong, Li Jianchen, and Hua Yiyu, who have played a great role in promoting the development of Chinese watercolor painting.

After the Ming Dynasty, in addition to public art academies, many private art academies were also established, such as the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, the private Suzhou Art College, etc. These new art academies are the foundation of our country’s local modern art education and have cultivated talents for our country.

A group of outstanding painters, such as Guan Guangzhi, Ran Xi, Yang Tingbao, Yang Yunlong, etc.

After the founding of New China, the state increased its support and investment in literary and artistic creation, proposing the policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend", creating a relatively relaxed cultural atmosphere for literary and artistic creation.

A group of artists with profound professional basic skills and good artistic literacy have entered art schools to teach. The school-centered "artist-teacher" art education system has been strengthened and developed, making great contributions to the watercolor art career in New China.

made outstanding contributions.

Among them, representative figures include Guang Zhi, Li Jianchen and Pan Sitong. On the basis of Western realistic traditional watercolor paintings, their works are also infused with the aesthetic sentiment and artistic charm of the Chinese nation, and show strong national artistic characteristics.

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