Dadu Museum of Art, the first private art museum in China focusing solely on oil painting, opened in Beijing on Monday after four years of preparation, with its first exhibition due to start on Saturday.

"We aim to help develop oil painting in China. Unlike Chinese painting, it's an art form introduced to China 100 years ago from the West," said Jin Shangyi, the museum's director.

The professionalism of Jin, honorary president of the Chinese Artists Association and former president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, has been brought to bear on the museum's opening exhibition, China Style — China Oil Painting Language Research.

Typical oil paintings of different times in China have been selected to showcase development of oil painting in the country over the past century.

The exhibition, which runs to Dec 18, is expected to evoke people's thinking on what China has learned from the West.

Jin said it will set the tone for future exhibitions at the museum.

Both Jin and the deputy director, Zhang Zuying, stressed the museum's professionalism. It houses fewer than 200 works by Chinese oil painters, equivalent to a medium-sized museum in the West.

Jin said future exhibitions will focus on works by talented Chinese oil painters and high-quality oil painting collections from museums overseas.

The museum is in Guozijian Street, an ancient hutong that is home to other museums.