Abstract: History of literature and art saw antithetical and interdependent relationship between texts and images in artistic events, as exemplified by the various editions of The Portrait of the Seven Hermits of the Bamboo Grove in different ages. The Seven Hermits of the Bamboo Grove produced profound influence on painting, calligraphy, sculpture and many other forms of visual arts in Chinese history, which, however, has received rare systematic elaboration, particularly explication of the antithetical and interdependent relationship between literature and images therein. Literature or the images of the Seven Hermits of the Bamboo Grove reflect, from their own perspective, the colorful life and intense contradiction of their inner world as well as the profound intricacy in the spiritual world of traditional Chinese intellectuals.

Key words: literature and image, the Seven Hermits of the Bamboo Grove, the portrait of the Seven Hermits of the Bamboo Grove