Zeus en Nemesis, by Jan Worst.

"I don't care about composition or perspective. I have an idea, and I paint it. It comes from the heart, not from the brain," he says.

But coming from the country which has bred the renowned Dutch school and the two greatest self-portrait painters - Rembrandt (1606-1669) and Van Gogh (1853-1890) - Akkerman sticks to methods passed down from the old masters.

For instance, he only paints on boards. And he uses Tempera.

"Akkerman's works are genuinely European. Some of the colors he uses would never be mixed by Chinese artists," Chen says.

Like Akkerman, Chinese artist Mao Yan has been portraying the same person for years. But his subject is Thomas, an overseas student from Luxemburg that he met in China in 1998.

"I'm portraying Thomas and I'm not portraying Thomas. The 10 portraits of his could be 10 different people. And even objects have the nature of a portrait," Mao explains.

Gray figures in his paintings are observed from odd angles, and haloed out of the background.

Stockings and shoed, 2009, oil on canvas, by Chen Danqing.

The 45-year-old says his preference for gray came from childhood memory.

"Gray is exquisite, ambiguous and full of possibilities," Mao says, adding that gray has the power to touch the soul.

Although painting from his own perspective, Mao admits his strong embrace of the classical. He reveres the history of art, and doesn't believe any kind of originality that can appear without tradition.

That is why he seeks inspiration every day from European masters such as Vermeer (1632-1675) and Velazquez (1599-1660), hoping to extract something new and valuable.

The other Dutch artist, Jan Worst, applauds Mao's effort: "Mao's works are oil paintings, but very Chinese."