Ni Zan (Ni Yunlin) was a painter who had a great influence on later generations in Yuan Dynasty. His unpretentious landscape painting style was the object pursued by the masters in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Dong Qichang and Shi Tao, who all cited him as the originator. Shi Tao's calligraphy and painting are based on Ni Zan in spirit and style. Ni Zan is also a calligrapher who takes retro as the banner and pursues artistic individualization. Like Zhang Yu and Yang Weiting, he belongs to this era and does not belong to this era. This is the transcendental value of art to the times.
In the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan people divided elegance and vulgarity according to whether they collected his paintings. His painting practice and theoretical viewpoints had a great influence on the painting circles in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and he was still rated as "Top Ten Painters in Ancient China" and listed as a world cultural celebrity by Encyclopedia Britannica.