Paddy Fields in Changshu, one of Qian Songyan's signature works.[Photo provided to China Daily]

This exhibition brings together 20 paintings from the museum's assemblage and the remaining pieces have been provided by the artist's family. Dozens of works produced during Qian's prime time adopt a realistic style to reflect China's socialist construction. The show is one of several exhibitions at the museum this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

The exhibition puts under limelight a critical time of evolution in Qian's painting style. He took a long journey in 1960 with several other ink painters from Jiangsu, traveling to eight provinces in central and southern China.

"He was awed by panoramic landscapes that differed from what he had seen in his hometown, and he marveled at the booming scenes of economic and social development," says the exhibition curator Chen Lyusheng.

Qian had called the trip "an unforgettable page of his life with honorable and pleasant feelings", Chen adds.

The journey widened Qian's vision. He sketched a lot from the real scenery during the trip. Before that, Qian had primarily followed the rigid conventions that actually confined the development of Chinese painting at the time-mechanically copying the styles of masterworks of the ancient times.