An item on display. [Photo/China Daily]

Lupertz, who inaugurated his own exhibition at Tsinghua on March 27, says the show is also a chance for him to "retrace" his youth, especially the energy with which he worked. He wants to keep going for "another 20 years", he says.

Looking at the works on display, he feels both "happiness and strangeness of reunion", and they enable him to review his "ideals to persist with painting".

Calling painting an age-old skill, Lupertz says, "This trade of antiquity produces generations of artists. At a time when machines have replaced many handmade skills, making it more convenient to create images, many artists still paint."