Human relationship is the starting point and core of Confucian ethics, and the relationship between husband and wife is regarded as the best definition of human relationship by Confucianism. In today’s society, harmonious couples are one of the important signs of the success of society, career, and family.

When it comes to couple painters, the first ones that come to mind are Zhao Mengfu and Guan Sheng in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to economic and cultural prosperity, social development was relatively stable, and female painters started to increase unprecedentedly. The number of painters, the quality of their works or the painting methods have surpassed past generations. Huang Daozhou and Cai Yuqing, Hua Yan and Jiang Yuan, Gong Kehe and Ma Quan are all well-known couple painters. In the Republic of China, the number of people became more prosperous, and more than 60 couples of couple painters appeared in the art market in the Jiangnan area alone, such as Cai Weilian, Lin Wenzheng, Fang Ganmin, Su Ailan, Pang Yuqin Qiudi, Li Yongsen and Shao Liangyun.

During the Republic of China couple painters were more pursuers of new art and practitioners of new-style marriages. Women invested countless ideals in art and practiced with brush in order to realize their dreams. Although they were followers of art in the new era, they still retained the role of "wife" and "mother" that define the identity of women in traditional Chinese society. In addition to taking care of their husbands and family, they pursued their painting career. These couple painters have rich and complicated social history and involve the content and issues of the entire history and culture.

Compared with the couple painters of ancient times and the Republic of China, contemporary art couples are much more "lucky". They accompany each other in life, help each other in their careers, and serve as the foundation of independent artists' life. The famous ones are Liu Xiaodong and Yuhong, Shen Ling and Wang Yuping, Xiang Jingqu and Guangci, and their styles are either similar or very different. Liu Xiaodong and Yuhong are dedicated to portraying reality and the "ordinary people" around them; Shenling and Wang Yuping are the opposite. The former is known for portraying open love and desire, while her husband makes simple and ordinary things vivid and full of life. As a pair of enviable couples in the sculpture circle, Xiang Jing and Qu Guangci, their creation concepts and methods are different. One focuses on internal aesthetics and the other focuses on problems of society.

This may be a coincidence, but I believe it is more like a fate. Whether the couple painter or the couple described by the painter, they have the same hobbies. The like-mindedness has prompted them to reach the peak in their careers and become more and more alike in their lives. It is what people often call, the "husband and wife".