绘画中的图像一般具有三种功能，再现、象征和表现。这三种意义在绘画发展中时而独自出现，时而共同组成画面的主题性。在意象先行的中国山水画发展中，绘画的主题性一直与诗词和文化内涵息息相关。在岭南地区山水画的主题研究中，红棉作为一种在此地得到极度重视的题材，由于清代其形象在文本中受到岭南诗人群体的着重塑造，它的内涵自清代以来在不同画家的绘画中得到阶段性的演变。不同时代的画家在时代背景的影响下，以不同的视角看待这个意象的象征性。清代画家将其视为岭南特色的代表，经由清代遗民群体对其“烈士”、“英雄”形象的象征性塑造，在民国时期，红棉成为完美契合表达革命的意象。近代革命圣地绘画又强化了红棉的象征性意味，在主题绘画发展中，以林丰俗、黄志坚为代表的岭南人在此题材中又找到了象征自我精神的可能性。

The Images in painting generally have three functions: representation, symbol and expression. These three meanings sometimes appear alone in the development of painting, and sometimes together constitute the theme of the picture. In the development of Chinese landscape painting, the theme of painting has always been closely related to poetry and cultural connotation. In the research on the theme of landscape painting in Lingnan region, kapok, as a subject matter that has received great attention here, has been gradually evolving in the paintings of different painters since the Qing Dynasty, as its image was emphatically shaped by Lingnan poets in the texts. Under the influence of the background of The Times, painters of different times viewed the symbolism of this image from different perspectives. The Qing Dynasty painters regarded it as the representative of Lingnan characteristics, and through the symbolic shaping of its "martyrs" and "heroes" images by the Qing Dynasty legacy groups, in the Republic of China, the kapok became the perfect image to express the revolution. In the development of the theme painting, the Lingnan people represented by Lin Fengxu and Huang Zhijian found the possibility of symbolizing their own spirit in this theme.