Following cooperation with the British Museum, the Palace Museum kicked off the "China· Belgium-500 years of painting" art show jointly with the Belgium Brussels Art Museum on June 26. The show includes the display of 174 paintings, and will run till September 5.

The Chinese paintings at the show were chosen from the Palace Museum, focusing on the theme of "Great Harmony" in traditional Chinese art. About 10 styles of painting were selected, in three main categories-natural scenery, plants and animals as well as people. The paintings also represent numerous techniques, such as fine-line painting (gong bi ) or abstract painting (xie yi ). They show the different features of various time periods and styles of Chinese art in the past 500 years and characteristics of the use of brush and Chinese ink.

The paintings from Belgium cover several styles, including canvas, crayon, sketch and print. They are from 11 western European museums or from individuals. The classical arts mainly represent the philosophy of "beauty in harmony" and "art in imitation of nature" in ancient Europe, displaying the development of Belgium art over the past 500 years, with works originally being for the royal court and gradually being aimed at more popular audiences.

Among the 174 paintings displayed in the show, 98 are from the Palace Museum, while the other 76 are provided by the Belgium Brussels Art Museum. This is the first instance of cooperation between the two.

Ten Chinese and Western masterpieces recommended respectively

"Saint Barbara" by Van Eyck

Yuhui, the planner of this art show recommended 10 Chinese and Western masterpieces respectively among the 174 paintings. The "top 10 Western masterpieces" include the xylograph "Saint Barbara" by Van Eyck in 1437, the print "Summer" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the 16th century, the canvas the portrait of an old women by Van Dyck in 1634, the canvas "Avila's Saint Teresa saving Mendoza from purgatory" by Peter Paul Rubens in the 17th century, the color pencil sketch before the commencement of Odysseus' ship by Jacob Jordaens in the 17th century and so on.