When the older generation of Tai-wanese painters was growing up, Taiwan was a Japanese colony, in an era when Japanese fine arts had a distinctly Western orientation. As a result, most became impressionists, or strived to master Japanese gouache painting.
日據時代的前輩老畫家，在日本美術向西看的時代趨勢下，大多專攻印象派風格的西畫，或以風格纖麗的東洋膠彩畫為職志。