文学与图像的对立与共生体现在文学史与艺术史上一个个具体的艺术事件中，历代各种《竹林七贤像》就是例证。竹林七贤对中国绘画、书法、雕塑等图像艺术产生了深远的影响，理论界较少系统的阐述，从中阐发文学与图像对立与共生关系的则更少。无论是竹林七贤文学还是竹林七贤图像都从各自的角度反映了他们丰富多彩的人生及其激烈矛盾的内心世界，也反映了根植于整体中国传统文人阶层精神世界之内的矛盾性与复杂性。

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.