It is because of this difference in height that, for Chinese painters, "the water lily lacks the upright, elegant, steadfast posture of the lotus," says painter Sun Chia-chin, explaining what Zhang Daqian, probably the best-known modern lotus painter, said when Sun asked Zhang why he didn't paint water lilies.
就這高矮有別，在中國畫家看來，「睡蓮缺乏荷花桿長、挺拔有力的娉婷之姿」，畫家孫家勤曾問近代畫荷最知名的張大千先生為何不畫睡蓮。