However, the real star of this section is Louis, the female artist who created an entire world out of plant life, says Susanna. Influenced and inspired by religious art and stained-glass windows in churches, Louis created a unique and intensely expressive painting style known as "flower-and-leaf painting". She was working as a maid when her creations were discovered by the German collector Wilhelm Uhde.

In 1929, Uhde organized the first major exhibition for the naive painters, during which the works of Louis gained great recognition and cemented her status as a representative female naive painter. But the turmoil of life affected her mental health and she was admitted to an asylum in 1932 with chronic psychosis, where she remained until her death in 1942.

The final section, Lively Nature, features Bauchant's imaginary forests inhabited by bears and monkeys, Vivin's hunting scenes and Peyronnet's depiction of the sea.

Contact the writer at zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

The Naif Art China Debut: The Wonderful World of the Naif Painters

Aug 1-Nov 12, Monday-Sunday, 10 am-6 pm (last entry by 5:30 pm).

Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum, 6F, 27 Zhongshan Dongyi Lu, Huangpu district, Shanghai.