[2] Yun Shouping was initially a landscape painter, but he was reportedly so impressed by the works of the artist Wang Hui that he abandoned his training in favor of flower, animal, and insect paintings.

[1] Yun imitated the 11th-century artist Xu Xi's mogu (or 'boneless') method, an approach that tried to express art without rigidly defined outlines and forms.

[4] Yun's style was vibrant and expressive; he attempted to display the inner vitality and spirit of his subjects in painting.

Yun sought inspiration from the past; his Flower and Fruit imitated the style of the masters of the Yuan dynasty.

He used strong colors such as reds and purples, which had traditionally been considered gaudy and offensive by Chinese painters.