Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) is one of the most popular Chinese artists of all time and is also internationally renowned. His works are displayed in museums and galleries around the world. He traveled and lived extensively — from China and Europe to Brazil and the United States, making him highly regarded as a skilled and consummate painter of various styles.

Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, opened Transcendent Spiritual Realm, an exhibition tracing Zhang's legendary life and how this shaped his art world, promoting him to become a great figure of 20th-century Chinese art.

The exhibition, running until Feb 16, shows his extraordinary techniques, which were grounded in his intensified studies of ancient artists — his copies of their landscape paintings were sometimes mistaken for originals. He was inspired by the Dunhuang murals in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province. He employed the smooth lining and vibrant colors of figures depicted in the caves to create a body of female portraits deemed classics of modern art. His pocai (splashed colors) painting peaked in the later years of his career.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays. 138 Nanshan Lu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. 0571-8707-8700.