Xu Longsen's famous large-scale landscape works are touring Europe for the first time. Provided to China Daily

Landscape master transcends tradition

Confucius once said, "the compassionate enjoy mountains, and the intelligent enjoy rivers".

In Chinese landscape painting, we can see not only magnificent natural landscapes, but also the artist's spirit.

Renowned Chinese landscape artist Xu Longsen's paintings are a very good example of this achievement, which embody his audacity to inherit these old styles while transcending tradition.

Xu is taking his works to Europe for the first time and his tour begins in Italy as part of the Chinese Culture Year in Italy. The exhibition moves to England, then along to France.

"His paintings are drawn from his spirit and optimized for the public space," says Fan Di'an, director of National Art Museum of China.

"By being Eastern or Western, classical or modern, his landscape paintings measuring tens of meters long are immediately defamiliarized when they enter into a public space.

"His works interact with the audience and different cultures in a very unique way."