Frescoes in Cave 38 depict performances of Kucha musicians.

Murals in the Kizil Caves are painted in intense and bright colors, displaying striking and deliberate contrasts. Few colors were used, but the images have an irresistibly expressive force. Ancient artists used white powder and black ink as intermediate colors to balance different colors. Take the Apsaras painted on the ceiling of the rear cell in Cave 1, for example. Their ochre nude upper bodies and malachite green trousers present a contrast between warm and cool colors. However, their hair painted in black ink reconciles the color tones. Some ceiling paintings were colored in blocks of malachite green and cinnabar red, which would look rather thick and dark on their own. For better visual effect, painters sometimes dipped their brushes in white powder and added intricate patterns of plum blossoms, thus enlivening the color tones.

In addition, various color areas were often used in an alternate pattern. This style is prominent especially in ceiling paintings. The topmost of these arched caves are decorated with dozens of rhombic patterns, each with its own background color that decides its place on the walls.

In the main cell of Cave 38, 14 pairs of performing musicians are painted on the upper parts of two side walls, in each of which one has light skin and the other dark skin. The former have green aureoles above their heads, while those of the latter are white. Ancient painters paid great attention to contrasts in color tones and the brightness of each two adjacent colored areas. In terms of artistic methods, the Kizil Caves are the predecessors to the Mogao Grottoes and many other murals in temples in central China.