Pan, a legendary female painter at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, was originally a prostitute in the south of the Yangtze River, and her life fate was changed by meeting Pan Zanhua, the head of salt industry at Wuhu Customs. She followed Pan Zanhua to Shanghai and began her student life as a painter. Later, she studied in Paris and became an internationally famous painter.
Liu Haisu, president of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, enlightened her to return to China to teach, but was rejected by conservative China people. Finally, she drifted to a foreign land and spent her gloomy old age with her best friend Wang Shouyi (renamed Wang Shouxin in the film).
The whole film is dull and superficial, and only the triangular relationship between Pan Yuliang, Pan Zanhua and Mrs. Yuan Pei is more delicate and moving. Painting the Soul became Gong Li's breakthrough work. Joseph, a French oriental art researcher, made a very accurate evaluation: "Her works combine the strengths of Chinese and Western paintings and give her her her own personality. She described everything with China's calligraphy and brushwork, and made rich contributions to modern art.