A man of art and nature

Also on show are dozens of sketches of the outdoors and paintings of Zhu, which were donated by Zhu's family in 2021.

"They are true to what the tree actually looks like," says Shi Yingkun, a visitor from Jiangmen. "The twisted roots and tangled branches look vividly real."

The exhibition charts Zhu's diverse, fruitful career. He was considered a pivotal figure in art design and education in the second half of the 20th century. While he taught at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, Zhu painted and designed to initiate reforms in the field, and his productivity helped build a visual art vocabulary that took root in China's history and cultural traditions.