沈颢的山水画南北宗论并非董其昌所论的重复，虽论列宗派，终又不为宗派所囿，倡导自主性和创造性。他又主张绘画应表现“自性”、“自然”，这是庄禅思想的体现，是明末士人挣脱思想束缚的表现。他就传神提出了“挹之有神，摸之有骨，玩之有声”的要求。他拟画为诗，以简约取之，在技巧论上颇有创获，在鉴赏论上尤其鄙弃功利性。沈颢对绘画落款的研究具有开创性，对我国绘画与诗、书、印的结合有所推助。 Shen Yong’s landscape paintings are not the duplicates discussed by Dong Qichang. Although they are not based on the sectarianism, they are not endorsed by the sectarians and advocate autonomy and creativity. He also advocated that painting should show “self-nature” and “nature.” This is a manifestation of Zhuang Zen’s thought and a manifestation of the fetters freed from ideological bondage in the late Ming Dynasty. He vividly put forward the “God of God, touch the bones, playing sound” requirements. He proposed painting as a poem, which was taken as a simplistic one, which was quite successful in the theory of skill. In particular, he disdains utilitarianism in appreciation theory. Shen Zhen’s research on painting inscriptions has a groundbreaking effect on the combination of Chinese painting and poetry, books and printing.