The painter Wang Meng is considered one of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty, along with Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and Ni Zan.

They had famously refused to serve the Mongolian rulers of their country.

In contrast to many renowned painters in previous history, these artists mostly work on paper instead of silk, an indication of the importance they give to the calligraphic touch of the brush on paper.

They exclusively paint landscapes, which they believe to be the visible key to the invisible reality.

They restrict their acquaintanceship to each other, and like-minded "wen ren" (gentleman-scholars) Wang Meng, unlike the other three Yüan Masters, who were hermit painters, leads a politically active life that ultimately results in his death in prison on October 14, 1385, at about the age of seventy-seven.