Chinese art treasures shine in Paris

An exhibition of Chinese art treasures is recently launched at the Decorative Arts Museum in Paris to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic relations. The collection, donated by senior collectors in France, includes furniture, clothes, lacquerware, wood carvings, and porcelain, jade, bronze and agate items of the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Chinese artists sometimes really, really need to express something, express the position of the individual and the society and also to express all this huge development that you had in China just the past few years," said visitor Elisa Azzena.

A participating Shanghai curator says it is a trend that more and more modern Chinese artists are learning from France. But in order to win a position in the world art arena, Chinese artists need to embrace their traditional painting skills.

"Some Chinese artists are good at presenting western works in their own way," said Don Honggang, art director of Red Bridge Gallery. "I would say their works like the reproduction of the Van Gogh's painting can enable western artists to see in them some Chinese elements. The Chinese artists should focus more on letting the westerners see the depth of Chinese culture."

"There is no rule between ancient and contemporary expression because everybody is built through years and years of history and as well we are all living in our time. For instance, China is the first country in the world for for users of Internet and so this figure is enough to say how modern you are. And when you are visiting this fair, you are really seeing how China is moving very, very fast, even if in its capacity of representing the world with new eyes," said Catherine Ruggeri, of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

While Chinese arts are on full display in France, French arts are receiving a warm welcome in Shanghai. The ongoing Monet exhibition has already attracted more than 100,000 visitors since it opened in March and could receive more than 200,000 visitors by the time it closes, twice as many as originally expected.