Impress with art

"It was purely for scientific studies and Clark didn't take a single antique relic from China," Chen says.

"Instead he provided selfless medical aid along his way whenever there was a need in villagers."

While the Clark collection of French paintings are shown on the second floor, the Shanghai Museum has put up a documents show in a separate hall on its fourth floor, presenting historical images from the Clark expedition in China.

Clark and his wife collected art for their own private enjoyment, says curator of the exhibition from the Clark Institute, Richard Brettell. The 73 paintings on tour are carefully selected from about 500, mostly masterpieces after 1850.

"It was a great period of change," he says about the time of the creation. "Artists took their canvas to the countryside and painted directly from nature It was the birth of modern art."

One of the most unusual paintings is a realistic painting by Jean-Leon Gerome, The Snake Charmer, which depicts a naked boy performing in front of audiences with a giant snake curling around him.

It is so vivid that the museum exhibited it behind the glass to stop people from touching the canvas, says Brettell the curator. The painting belonged to Clark's parents and Sterling grew up with it in the house. It went missing, until Sterling bought it back in the 1940s.