Li's landscape being featured in the background not only lends the portrait classical depth, but the monumental peaks, rising pines and streams that surround Qi also accentuate an otherworldly mood, symbolizing his integrity.

Zhu Chunlin, head of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, says the exhibition is a tribute to Yang and his predecessors who have endeavored in Chinese oil painting. "Their works are the seeds that have been sown into the Chinese soil and, nurtured by tradition and modernism, they have sprouted and grown to form a thriving forest with deep roots."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn