Wang Yachen was born in 1894 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. He studied Western paintings in Tokyo in 1916, later taught as a professor in Western paintings at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, and later he further pursued his studies in France in 1928. He was appointed as professor at Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts and the principal of the Shanghai Normal School. 20 years later, he was invited to teach at the Yale University, the Harvard University, the Colombia University, majoring in Flower-and-Bird and insect paintings.