In the field of painting, the first Song emperor, Taizu, set up a national art academy, which brought in artists from far and wide, including landscape painters such as Fan Kuan, Guo Xi, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, bird-and-flower painters such as Yi Yuanji and Cui Bo, and figure painters such as Li Gonglin and Su Hanchen.
繪畫上，宋太祖設立畫院，廣納各地書畫家，山水畫有范寬、郭熙、馬遠、夏珪等；花鳥畫有易元吉、崔白；人物畫有李公麟、蘇漢臣等。