A painting by Markus Lupertz. [Photo/China Daily]

At the opening of his Tsinghua show, Lupertz said the shown works speak from "the perspective of a single collection", implying they are not encompassing of all his oeuvre. That apart, he seemed to be enjoying his trip to China. He held a dialog with the elite university's art and design students, and even played the piano. He visited the workshops of several professors too.

He says he doesn't want to be an ardent lecturer here but instead, he "looks for nutrition from Chinese cultural traditions".

"China has excellent art, and there is no need to build an internationalized standard for painting," he says.

"When one keeps discovering inner energies of painting, his works will create extensive influence worldwide."

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If you go

9 am-5 pm, Mondays closed, through April 28. Tsinghua University, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-6278-1012.