画坛“扬州八怪”与盐商

“扬州八怪”是中国绘画史上一批风格相近的画家总称，清代中期活动于扬州地区，主要靠卖画为生。盐商在扬州经济发展中占有重要地位，在奢靡的物质生活条件下，精神消费品的需求量大增。“文之极，画也”，盐商对绘画作品的需求拉近了与“扬州八怪”诸多画家之间的距离，画家依附盐商成为普遍现象，这种现象使“扬州八怪”成为中国绘画史上独特的一个群体。

Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics in the Painting Circle and Salt Merchants

Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics is the general name of painters with similar styles in Chinese painting history, who were active in Yangzhou area in Middle Qing Dynasty, making a living on selling paintings. Salt merchants played an important role in the development of Yangzhou economy, whose need for spiritual consumption goods sharply increased under the luxurious material living conditions. Painting is the supreme realm of spirit. The need of salt merchants for paintings shortened the distance between many painters who were in the Yangzhou Eight Eccentric group and them, and painters＇ adherence to salt merchants became a popular phenomenon, which made Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics became a special group in Chinese painting history.