Visitors attend the exhibition. [Photo/Yongpai App]

Two original works by Paul Cezanne have gone on display in Ningbo for the first time, anchoring a new exhibition at the Ningbo Art Museum that explores the modernity of Chinese painting through cross-cultural dialogue.

Titled Tribute to Cezanne: The Modernity of Chinese Paintings, the exhibition opened on Feb 12 and brings together nearly 100 works, including two early oil paintings by Cezanne from the 1860s — Landscape at Midday (c.1865) and Landscape (c.1866). The pieces, part of the museum's collection, reveal the artist's formative exploration of color, texture and structure, which later earned him the title "father of modern painting".

Curated by Professor Xia Kejun of Renmin University of China, the exhibition centers on the concept of the "unfinished Cezanne". Xia notes that Cezanne's late artistic pursuits — blending the transparency of watercolor with the solidity of oil painting — remained incomplete.

The show invites 17 contemporary Chinese artists to respond to this concept from the perspective of Chinese ink traditions, seeking new paths toward a distinctly Chinese modernity in painting.

By staging a century-spanning dialogue, the exhibition highlights both the museum's collection and the evolving global expression of Chinese art. It runs through March 8 and is free to the public during the Spring Festival holiday.

Landscape at Midday by Paul Cezanne. [Photo/Yongpai App]

Landscape by Paul Cezanne. [Photo/Yongpai App]