Natural views inspire brushstrokes in landscape artists

The unique views of the village of Barbizon in France and its neighboring forest attracted a group of painters in the 19th century who later established the Barbizon school, which emphasized naturalism and realism in landscape painting.

Exhibiting different natural views, villages along the Oujiang River in Lishui, Zhejiang province, have also become a hub for artists in recent years, inspiring beautiful landscape paintings.

Organized by the China Artists Association, an exhibition in Lishui displays fine landscape paintings by artists who have come to sketch in Lishui and its neighboring towns and villages for years.

There are also works depicting scenery from other parts of the country in which the painters not only celebrate naturalism but also create semi-realistic, semi-imagined scenes to express an idealized world.