After failing the entrance exam several times, he finally succeeded in 1927 and was admitted to Tokyo Fine Arts School.
At the same time, he met other overseas students from Taiwan, such as Liao Chi-chun, Tan Teng-pho, Yen Shui-long, Zhang Shunqing, and Fan Hongjia, and together they founded the "Chiyang Western Painting Society [zh]".
[11] In addition, he fell in love with Hideko, the daughter of Kiyomi Kenjiro, and the two married at Nogi Shrine (Tokyo) in 1931.
[15] With the assistance of advisors Nanjo Hiroaki[16] and Arikawa Takeo,[17] he often met to discuss painting theory and lived in Hsinchu for two years.
[18][19] However, at the end of 1934, Ho Te-Lai returned to Japan for treatment due to peptic ulcer disease problems.
[25] In 1973, the Hsinchu Society held a solo oil painting exhibition of Ho Tak-lai at the Shibuya Gallery in memory of his late wife, Hideko.
Ho Tak-lai established the Jiade Society to hold exhibitions regularly and promote art research among members.
On the early morning of February 1, 1986, Ho Te-Lai died suddenly at his home in Meguro due to a heart attack.
[26] In 1994, to commemorate his 90th birthday, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum held the "Ho Te-Lai 90th Anniversary Exhibition".
He mainly uses modern vocabulary, minimalism, and flat colors and lines to depict images of daily objects and present themes that reflect his inner changes.
For example, works such as "Guqin Performance" (1949),[38] "White Day" (1956), now in the collection of the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts),[39][40] "Dawn" (1962),[41] "Mother and Son Years" (1959) and "Dream of West Lake" (1952).
[42] In addition to the visual imagery of images, Ho Te-Lai also relied on the font and meaning of words to integrate his feelings.