Zhao Mengfu is well-read and accomplished in poetry, calligraphy and painting, music, etc., especially in calligraphy and painting, which created a new painting style in Yuan Dynasty and was called "the crown of Yuan people".
Zhao Mengfu mainly studied the two systems of Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, Li Cheng and Guo Xi, broke away from the meticulous painting method, and innovated his own style with reference to the interests of the ancient and simple people in the Tang Dynasty. He learned from others' strengths and formed an overall style of heavy work, stability, beauty and beauty. Portrait painting mostly maintains the style of Tang people, with strict statutes and simple style. Flower-and-bird painting is a combination of Guo Xi and Huang Quan, and works with writing, which is not skillful, simple and elegant. In painting theory, he advocated retro, advocated that "painting is expensive and has ancient meaning", advocated Tang people, and opposed the gentle and graceful painting style in the Southern Song Dynasty. What is particularly valuable is that his paintings changed the style of the Southern Song Dynasty and created the painting style of the Yuan Dynasty. He boldly tried to apply calligraphy to painting, forming a "calligraphy and painting" that combines calligraphy and painting, melting poetry, calligraphy and painting in one furnace. His dry pen is light ink, light crimson color, and his style is sparse and elegant, which mainly shows the literati's secluded life interest.
There are more than 2 paintings handed down from generation to generation in Zhao Mengfu. "Dongting Dongshan Map" is a representative one, which depicts the scenery of Dongting Dongshan. Dongting Mountain is located in Taihu Lake in the southwest of Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, and is divided into two mountains. Dongshan, called Xumu Mountain in ancient times, is also called Moli Mountain, which is a peninsula extending out of Taihu Lake. In the picture, Dongshan Mountain is not high, round and gentle, and the mountain path is tortuous. There is a man standing on the shore overlooking Taihu Lake. Behind the mountain, the fog is misty, and the hills are faint. The lake is sparkling with microwaves and the canoes are rippling. The nearby hills float and there are many miscellaneous trees. This pen and ink is changed from Dong Yuan's standard, with soft and smooth ponytails and sparse and dense spots of moss, showing the earth-like mountain morphology with moist vegetation in the south of the Yangtze River. Fine fish scales and water lines, write the water light of Taihu Lake. The hills and slopes are covered with faint azurite, turquoise and ochre, and the leaves are stained with cyanine, and the color of the picture is Ming Che and elegant. This pale crimson landscape is a new style developed by Zhao Mengfu on the basis of the green landscape in Tang and Song Dynasties, which has a great influence on the landscape painting style in Yuan Dynasty.
Zhao Mengfu was also an influential calligrapher in the early Yuan Dynasty. His truth and deeds are the first in the contemporary era. In his early years, he studied the calligraphy of Song Gaozong and Zhao Gou, who "had a wonderful understanding of the eight methods and paid attention to the quaint"; in his middle years, he studied the calligraphy of Zhong You and Xi Xian, and in his later years, he learned from Li Yong, Yan Zhenqing and Mi Fei. In addition, he also copied the Dingding tablet in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang in the Tang Dynasty, which was a masterpiece of previous generations, compatible with storage, developed and changed, and formed a unique book style with neat structure, skillful brushwork and strong momentum, and was called "Zhao Ti". What is particularly valuable is that most calligraphers in the Song and Yuan Dynasties were only good at calligraphy and cursive, while Zhao Mengfu was able to study all kinds of fonts. Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy was famous at that time. Tianzhu, that is, an Indian monk, came to China not far from Wan Li just to get his calligraphy, and he was honored as a treasure after returning home. Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy was also studied by many later generations, and Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy was also very popular in Korea and Japan.