This exhibition in the National Gallery's Hamburger Bahnhof of paintings that include many major canvases amounts to the first solo exhibition dedicated to the work of the Chinese artist Qiu Shihua ever to go on show in a European museum. The exhibition covers his early paintings from the seventies up to his most recent canvases, thus forming a representative overview of the creative output of Qiu Shihua (born 1940 in Sichuan, lives and works in Beijing and Shenzhen, China).

At first glance, Qiu Shihua's works appear as monochrome, almost completely white canvases. However, on closer inspection, expansive landscapes emerge from their painterly surfaces, which, depending on the way you look at them, gradually blossom with detail, or recede again from view. The artist creates his broad landscapes in monochrome colours, applied in a minimalist style. The mysterious depth of his painting results in his canvases having a captivating effect in the eye of the beholder.

The exhibition has been made possible by the Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie. The exhibition is being held in cooperation with the Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern.

Curated by Katharina Schlüter