Yan Wenliang was the earliest proponent in the learning, study and teaching of Western painting in China. He traveled in 1928 to France where he experienced the baptism of Western Neo-Classicism, and when he returned to China in 1931, he had over 500 plaster reproductions of famous European sculptures and more than ten thousand art reference books. He became the headmaster of the Suzhou Fine Art Institute, with a creative career of over 90 years and countless students, making him one of the most respected elder painters in Chinese oil painting history.

Yan Wenliang's works tend to be landscape paintings drawn to life. They successfully combine the rich changes in color and light of Europe's Impressionists with the elegance of traditional Chinese paintings. Changes in color tones on a minute scale carefully express tiny changes in nature, revealing the characteristic Yan painting style with its refreshing simplicity and richness of detail.

This "Winter Sunset" is one of the Yan's most representative masterpieces. The artist uses extremely fine brush strokes to depict the buildings, trees, distant river and tranquil skies with excellent clarity. The bright snow covering the riverbanks and roof provide a feeling of weight, while the golden ambient light from the dying rays of the setting sun reflect the artist's Impressionist influences in his sensitivity to natural scenery and light sources. In this painting the calm and quiet of the winter day sunset in northern lands is captured perfectly.