In the context of contemporary art, Chinese and Western landscape painting exhibit both mutual influence and distinctive characteristics. This study, entitled A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Contemporary Landscape Painting, investigates their aesthetic and technical differences in color, composition, brushwork, and the treatment of light and shadow, while also probing the deeper cultural and philosophical implications. Landscape painting has long served as a key medium for articulating the relationship between humanity and nature in both traditions, yet historical and cultural divergences have produced significant contrasts. Chinese landscape painting emphasizes poetic ambience and the expressive power of brush and ink, integrating subjective emotions into natural imagery. Western traditions, since the Renaissance, have prioritized faithful representation through perspective and chiaroscuro, constructing an illusion of three-dimensional space. In the contemporary era of globalization, intensified cultural exchange has led to increasing intersections of concepts and techniques. Employing Erwin Panofsky’s three-tiered iconological method as the theoretical framework, this study conducts a comparative analysis of formal features and cultural connotations, with case studies of representative artists such as Liu Xiaodong in China, and David Hockney in the West. This research contributes to comparative art studies by illuminating cross-cultural aesthetic expressions of the human–nature relationship and by demonstrating how traditions and modernity converge within landscape painting in a globalized context.