'Oriental Sunflowers' blossoms at National Museum of China

Sunflowers everywhere, green and gold, growing and dying… It's not hard to see Xu Jiang's love for this common flower while walking through his second exhibition at the National Museum of China: The Oriental Sunflowers: Xu Jiang's Art Exhibition.

Opened to the public on Saturday, the exhibition showcases the artist's art creations over the past 10 years. From paintings to sculptures, all his works are centered on sunflowers.

"They aren't just flowers, but the representation of a generation of Chinese people," Xu said at the press conference for the opening. This "sunflower" generation, which includes himself, refers to those people born in the 1950s that grew up hand-in-hand with the then newly founded PRC.

"They have experienced great social and economic changes over the years and have so many life experiences," he said.

"He has never been a landscape painter," Chinese art critic Gao Shiming commented on Xu's paintings.

"In his new series, we can see the sunflowers growing on the land as a single entity. Through them, you can understand the painter and his life."

The exhibition is set to run until November 8.