On The Relationship Between Form And Spirit In Painting

In the traditional Chinese painting, the relationship between form and spirit is an important part in the figure painting theory. Since the pre-Qin period, historians, philosophers and theorists are constantly enriching and developing the theory of form and spirit. Gu Kaizhi’s theory of "conveying spirit through form" is an important milestone in the history of Chinese painting. He systematically described the relationship between form and spirit in figure painting, which laid a standard for the figure painting aesthetic system and laid a solid foundation for the development of figure painting.Paint from life is an important way to learn figure painting. Its ultimate goal is to achieve a qualitative leap after a lot of practice. With painting as an example, paint from life means to have an artistic language processing on the feeling of the painter and the emotion of the painted subject, thereby achieving the aesthetic requirements of Chinese painting on unity of form and spirit. Therefore, in figure painting training, exploration of the relationship between form and spirit is of positive significance.This paper reviewed the development of the relationship between form and spirit and the genre change of figure painting, and tried to discuss the rational use of form and spirit in figure painting from the origin and development of form and spirit and important works in the field of figure painting. From the development of form and spirit, it can be seen that "form" and "spirit" are indispensable in paintings, of which, "spirit" is the high degree of integration of the spiritual soul of the painted objects and the feelings of the painter, and "form" is the carrier of "spirit". Only "conveying spirit through form and achieving unity of form and spirit" can realize a high degree of unity of the painted contents and the painter’s spirit, thereby creating a work full of vitality. In any case, paint from life starting from form and spirit is the root to guarantee the vitality of figure painting. Mechanical depiction and copy is not a sublimation of the characteristics of the painted objects and cannot create a good and moving work. Achieving the harmony of inner spirit and external qualities of the painted objects is the best embodiment to develop and inherit the theory of the relationship between form and spirit.