A painting by Markus Lupertz. [Photo/China Daily]

Feng Yuan director of the Tsinghua museum says although neo-expressionist works were first introduced to China in the late 1980s and early '90s, and influenced many homegrown artists, the style remains unfamiliar to general audiences. He hopes Lupertz's works will bring the style, which emerged in the 1970s in reaction to pop-art and minimalism, closer to Chinese viewers.

His repertoire on show begins with his paintings from the 1960s, after he moved to Berlin and was inspired by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's theories on poetry. Then it moves to his German motifs series in the following decade in which he reflected upon World War II. His use of certain objects that symbolize the Nazi period aroused debates at the time.