‌水墨画（ink and wash painting）是中国独具特色的传统艺术形式之一，是中国国画的代表。它大约始于唐代，兴盛于宋代和元代，距今已有一千多年的历史，其间经历了不断的发展、提高和完善。水墨画的创作工具和材料是具有浓厚中国特色的毛笔、宣纸和墨，其作品特点也与此紧密相关。例如，水和墨相互调和，使作品具有干湿浓淡的层次。水墨和宣纸的交融渗透也使画作善于表现丰富的意象，从而达到独特的审美效果。水墨画在中国绘画史上具有很高的地位，甚至被认为是衡量东方绘画艺术水平的标准。​

Ink and wash painting, one of the unique traditional art forms of China, is representative of Chinese painting. It began around the time of the Tang Dynasty, and then prospered in the Song and Yuan dynasties. With a history of over one thousand years, it has experienced constant development, improvement and perfection. The tools and materials used to create ink and wash painting, i.e. brushes, rice paper, and ink, are characteristic of Chinese culture and closely related to the features of the paintings. For example, the mixing of water and ink creates different shades of dryness, wetness, thickness and thinness. The integration and infiltration of water, ink, and rice paper enables such paintings to convey rich images, and hence to achieve unique aesthetic effects. Ink and wash painting holds a high status in the history of Chinese painting, and it is even regarded as the criterion to evaluate the artistic level of Oriental paintings.