LONDON - Beijing Guozijian Oil Painting Art Museum started its 2012 Chinese Oil Painting Art Exhibition in London on Tuesday.

The exhibition at Olympia West Hall will play a central role within the "Colourful Beijing" Culture Week celebrations, taking place July 24-31, and will be part of a wider initiative by the 2008 Olympic host city to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, Zhang Zuying says: "We are grateful to the Greater London Authority. Thanks to its invitation we have won this precious opportunity to show in the host city of the Olympic Games oil paintings featuring Chinese aesthetic values."

For the first time in Britain, the exhibition will unveil 100 oil painting masterpieces by Chinese artists, marking 500 years of cross-cultural exchange in ideas between China and Europe. As the largest exhibition to date of its kind, over 60 artists have been selected for the event, representing China's most prestigious oil painters.

Displayed chronologically, audiences will gain an insight into the unique and evolutionary story of cross-cultural dialogue in the modern Chinese art world, where the expressive forces of Western art blend with the national aesthetic concepts of Chinese modern culture.

"The 20th century witnessed the emergence of Chinese artists on to the world stage, with many of them introducing Western style oil painting to China and incorporating both foreign and Chinese techniques and style. The interaction and integration of different cultures in the development of the Chinese oil painting result in art which develops in many directions. The plethora of ideas and a great diversity of styles and schools show the self-exploration and personal creations of Chinese artists," says Jin Shangyi, curator of the Museum.

All the works displayed in the 2012 Chinese Oil Painting Art Exhibition will go on to be housed in the Beijing Guozijian Oil Painting Art Museum, scheduled to open to the public in 2013.

The current exhibition is well supported by city governments in Beijing and London. The two sides have vowed to boost bilateral exchanges in the creative industry.