An anniversary exhibition is being held to celebrate the art and the history behind the museum’s 50 years.(Photo/Xinhua)

In the Chinese capital where the National Arts Museum is marking a milestone birthday. An anniversary exhibition is being held to celebrate the art and the history behind the museum’s 50 years.

A sea of Chinese red immerses the great hall at the National Arts Museum of China. Renowned artists and visitors gather for the ribbon-cutting ceremony which marks the museum’s 50th birthday.

The event allows people to share the unique stories behind some of the pieces on display here.

"This painting has been with the family, first back to China, because after the Japanese invasion of Singapore, we were obliged to leave, we came back from Maligar to Bhurma, then Bhurma occupied by Japanese, we came back to Yun’nan to Sichuan…till 1945, the end of the second world war. And then my father was so ill. The doctor said he only had three months to live. So he has to go to the States for penicillin. So he went there in ’46 (so the painting with him all around) And then in 1950, my parents decided to come back to Chinese mainland because they decided to serve the new system, the new republic," Painter’s daughter Dr. Shuang Situ said.