Most of the paintings were created in the 1980s and 1990s, but there were also a few from before the 1980s.
There are several oil paintings by Son U-yong, an excellent oil painter who received the honor of painter of merit in 1989. But unfortunately he passed away suddenly in 2009, so the works he left have become more precious, says Cheng Wujun, the director of the base.
"For example, the painting named The Mountain Peak is valued at more than 200,000 yuan ($32,604)," he says.
Relying on his personal relationships, Cheng became acquainted with the DPRK paintings in 2006.
Different from the paintings of other countries, the DPRK paintings show realistic styles, unique emotional interpretation and strong feelings of national pride, all of which reflect the DPRK people's aspirations for peace.
From the very beginning, he was attracted by their distinctive features and made up his mind to bring the DPRK paintings and the DPRK artists to China.
At that time, Cheng was the director of News Painting and Calligraphy Institute, a new department set up by Mudanjiang News Media Group.
With this platform, he began to put on display and sell the DPRK paintings in the small city Mudanjiang.
During that time, some of the DPRK paintings appeared in the domestic exhibitions and at auction.
The successful deals made the General Directorate of International Exhibition in the DPRK realize that selling paintings could earn foreign exchange for the country, so they began to more actively push cultural and artistic communication with China.
The base was established against such a background.
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