During the many years that he spent living in Europe, T’ang Haywen’s style evolved over time in response to changes in his own emotional state. The work that T’ang produced in any given period was the product of years of accumulated experience and self-cultivation, as well as reflecting his attitude to life. Despite having little formal training in art, T’ang interest in art was passionate and deeply-held; he was friends with many of the leading artists of his day, and his interaction with these individuals helped him to refine his own artistic sensibility.

In the still lifes that T’ang Haywen painted in the 1950s, the influence of the Fauves can be detected. By the 1960s, T’ang started to paint more abstract works, and was also beginning to “hide” simplified pictograms in his paintings; T’ang’s roots in Chinese culture were starting to make themselves felt in his art. The 1970s saw the commencement of a dramatic transformation in T’ang Haywen’s artistic style, as T’ang began to see wider possibilities for the development of abstract paintings influenced by Chinese ink-brush painting techniques. During this period, he began to produce large numbers of paintings in the form of diptych; these works became a distinctive feature of T’ang’s art. This series of lyrical works embodies an effort by T’ang during this time to achieve a higher level of spiritual cultivation. The bold brushstrokes demonstrate T’ang’s mastery of the techniques of ink-brush painting; using just combinations of lines and dots, T’ang was able to create paintings that are rich in Zen meaning. Disdaining formalism, T’ang succeeded in generating a poetic, exquisite atmosphere in his works. These paintings contain no grand, sweeping vistas or spectacular scenes of energy and power; rather, they are redolent of the Taoist philosophy of non-action that influenced the artist in his own daily life during this period. These paintings constitute an expression of T’ang’s feelings after achieving spiritual enlightenment; they also represent a never-ending dialog between T’ang’s art and his inner self.