Removed from the influence of politics and free from the "dust of the world," each scholar not serving in office had the "hills and valleys" in his heart. Images of the rugged banks of a rivers, a small kiosk in the forest, and farmers and fishermen reflected recluse scholars' ideas (and ideals) of distance and resistance or perhaps circumstances beyond his control. Regardless of the reason, the figures shown in images by recluse scholar-artists are pensive and deep in thought or carefree and at leisure. Though the styles of these artists may differ, they reveal the same choice of reclusiveness, only through different means.

Many scholars who did not serve in office frequently turned to religion for spiritual consolation. The purity and void of Daoism became an ideal of reclusion. Artists such as Fang Congyi, Wu Zhen, Huang Gongwang, and Ni Zan were all involved with Daoism in one way or another, and the realm of the Way also found expressions in their paintings in various manners.