More than 100 paintings by a mainland woman known as "Grandma Vincent van Gogh" were displayed at a special exhibition for charity in Hong Kong on January 14, 2007. [Photo: ce.cn]

More than 100 paintings by a mainland woman known as "Grandma Vincent van Gogh" were displayed at a special exhibition for charity in Hong Kong on January 14.

Xinhua News Agency reports all the proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to a charity program that repairs school buildings in mountainous areas on the mainland.

73-year-old Chang Xiufeng is "Grandma Vincent van Gogh". She comes from the central province of Henan and cannot read and write.

She lived in a small mountain village in Henan until 2003, when she flew to Guangzhou to visit her son.

To tell her little granddaughter what hawthorns look like, she began to draw with the crayons the little girl had discarded.

She found she could draw all kinds of colorful country scenes, even though she has received no professional training in painting.

Artists say her paintings are modest, pure and touching, bearing a kind of resemblance to the works of Vincent van Gogh.

Her son spread her story though his blog and she soon became known as "Grandma van Gogh."

The original Vincent van Gogh lived from 1853-1890 in Holland. He was a post-impressionist painter whose early works, like The Potato Eaters, portray peasant life in somber, dark colors. His later works are characterized by bold rhythmic brush strokes and vivid colors. They include a number of self-portraits, a series of sunflower paintings and the famous Starry Night.

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