Born in Pingding County, Shanxi Province in 1937, he studied at the Lebin Academy of Fine Arts of the former Soviet Union from 1960 to 1966, graduated from A. Melnikov Studio, and taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts after returning home. The uniqueness of Su Gaoli's oil painting art lies in the fact that it is not only sketching but also transcending sketching. Sketching contains the ideological elements of creation, that is, he does not depict the beauty of the scenery from the external appearance, nor is it the long-distance aesthetic pictures of the spiritual nobility, but he melts himself into the life he paints, not only with the aesthetic vision, but also with the feelings of ordinary workers. To observe and feel the native land, the process of sketching is the process of his spiritual closeness to his home.