洪武时（1368—1398）已有盛名。

明成祖永乐中（1403—1424）召入宫中。

宣宗朱瞻基喜爱谢环的作品，在宣德年间征入画院，大被赏遇，授锦衣卫千户，后又升指挥

杏园雅集图

 杏园雅集图

绢本设色　镇江市博物馆藏 纵37厘米 横401厘米

此图卷描绘了明正统二年（公元1437年），内阁大臣杨士奇、杨荣、杨溥及画家等十人在杨荣的杏园聚会之情景。另绘童子九人、仆人五人、共计二十四人，其中有画家本人的自画像。同时还描绘了杏园环境风貌、临时设置的家具、游乐具、炊饮具等。画家充分运用了传统的散点透视、现实主义的创作手法，再现了一幅封建社会高级官僚和文人宴乐的历史画面，是当时仕宦生活的真实写照。。作品画法工细，用笔稍加放纵而有所变化，色彩鲜艳，不愧为谢环之杰作。

图卷后保留着当时雅集者手迹：杨士奇的《杏园雅集序》，杨士奇、杨荣、杨溥、王英、王直、周述、李时勉、钱习礼、陈循题诗各一首，杨荣的《杏园雅集序》保存完整。最后为翁方纲的考跋。

此幅画卷虽未见著录，但从骑缝处的“关西后裔”云印看出属杨荣家族收藏。解放后此画捐赠镇江博物馆收藏。

另有《杏园雅集图》卷，相同然构图各异，绢本，设色，纵36.7厘米，横240.7厘米，卷后亦有冠冕一时之杨士奇、杨荣、杨溥所谓“三杨”等多人题记和序文，现由美国翁万戈先生收藏（大都会本）。人物肖像和景物描绘精益求精，亦堪称珍品。

同一题材的绘画用不同场景来表现，虽然都是雅集，但内容都在不停的变换。镇江本为鉴赏古玩，而美国大都会本则是在观画，内容各有所指但同是在表现雅集这一主题。

水光山色图

景泰三年（一四五二）尝作水光山色图，现藏日本。

 Hongwushi (1368-1398) has been well-known.

Yongle Zhong (1403-1424) of the Ming Chengzu was called into the palace.

Xuan Zong and Zhu Zhanji loved Xie Huan's works. During Xuan De's reign, he was enrolled in the Painting Academy. He was greatly appreciated, given brocade clothes to thousands of families, and then promoted to command.

Apricot Garden Atlas

Silk Shese Zhenjiang Museum Collection 37 cm in length and 401 cm in breadth

This volume depicts the meeting of ten cabinet ministers, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu and painters in Yang Rong's Apricot Garden in the second year of Ming Orthodoxy (1437 A.D.). The other painted nine boys, five servants and a total of 24 people, including the painter's own self-portrait. At the same time, it also describes the environment and features of apricot garden, temporary furniture, amusement tools, cooking and drinking utensils, etc. The painter fully utilized the traditional scattered perspective and realistic creative techniques to reproduce a historical picture of the feudal society of senior bureaucrats and literati feasting, which was a true portrayal of the official life at that time. His paintings are meticulous and varied with a slightly indulgent brush. They are brilliant in color and deserve to be Xie Huan's masterpiece.

At the end of the scroll, the handwriting of the elegant collectors at that time is retained: Preface to Elegant Collections of Xingyuan by Yang Shiqi, Preface to Elegant Collections of Xingyuan by Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, Wang Ying, Wang Zhi, Zhou Shu, Li Shimian, Qian Xili and Chen Xun. Preface to Elegant Collections of Xingyuan by Yang Rong is well preserved. Finally, it is Weng Fanggang's postscript.

Although the scroll has not been recorded, it can be seen from the cloud print of "Guanxi descendants" at the seam that it belongs to the collection of Yang Rong family. The painting was donated to Zhenjiang Museum after liberation.

There are also volumes of "Atlas of Apricot Garden" with different compositions, such as silk, colors, 36.7 cm in length and 240.7 cm in transverse. After the volumes, there are many inscriptions and prefaces by Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong and Yang Pu, which are called "Three Yang" for a while. They are now collected by Mr. Onwango of the United States (the metropolitan edition). Character portraits and scenery paintings are also treasures.

Painting on the same subject is represented by different scenes. Although they are all elegant collections, their contents are constantly changing. Zhenjiang is originally for the appreciation of antiques, while the Metropolitan City of the United States is for the viewing of paintings. The contents have their own meanings, but the same theme is the performance of elegant collections.

Shuiguang Mountain Color Map

In the third year of Jingtai (1452), he tasted the landscape map of Shuiguang Mountain, which is now Tibetan in Japan.