William Shakespeare's Homeby Wu Guan zhong.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

To mark this important historic connection between Chinese and French art circles, the National Art Museum of China, which houses a considerable collection of French art, presents the Heritage Immortal exhibition until Sunday. Paintings, prints, sculptures and mixed-media works by members of the French Academy of Fine Arts, Institut de France, are on display.

Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum, says the exhibition centers on how featured artists, nurtured by the rich soil of French culture, keep pushing forward the boundary of art.

"It hails the sincerity and friendship of a scholarly community, of which the members impart in their work the utmost humanity, warmth and love," says Wu who is also a correspondent member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.