History on canvas

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The ongoing exhibition commemorates the end of Long March eight decades ago, when three major factions of the Red Army united in Northwest China's Gansu province, surviving bitter struggles with the enemy and harsh natural surroundings. It also celebrates the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

Shen's interest in the march was ignited in the 1960s while he was studying at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. At the time, he was sent to the People's Liberation Army for a short-term program. That was when he discovered a map showing the routes that the Red Army had taken during the march.

His Red Classic art series is based on five trips retracing itineraries of the Long March.

In 1975, he embarked on the first journey. He was then a teacher at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. In three months, he covered areas in East China's Jiangxi province, where the Long March had started, and in Shaanxi province in the country's northwest.

His travels inspired Shen to produce two oil paintings－Revolutionary Ideals Higher than Heaven and With Firm Strides We Start Again－that later became iconic pieces of the Red Classic series.

The first painting sold for 40 million yuan ($6.35 million) in 2012 at an art auction in Beijing and the other is part of the national art museum's collection.