Marrying both the qualities of the Chinese literati painters and modern Western artists, Sanyu developed a unique style of expression. Fusing the unrestrained style of Chinese ink painting with the clean, spare qualities of the Fauvist school, the artist invested his paintings with characteristically Chinese reflection and emotional subtlety. In his early period, intoxicated with the romance of exotic Paris, Sanyu chose from a basic palette of pink, white, and black, lending his works a clean elegance, upon which calligraphic lines expressed a joyous mood.

However, with the onset of World War Two and the shift of his family’s financial fortunes, the levity evident in his earlier works disappeared. And although his characteristic aloofness remained, his works took on a touch of gloom.

Later, Sanyu found additional inspiration in the lacquer ware he produced for a living, injecting healthy doses of folk art into his works, teasing out simple lines from dark backgrounds, choosing bold compositions, and featuring such themes as nudity, flowers, scenery, and small animals.

In later years, impoverished and forlorn, the artist projected homesickness into his paintings, where small, isolated creatures appear particularly lost and lonely, and even the flowers in vases and pots seem particularly frail.