Images of gloomy times

Pieces by Russian artists from a similar display, Victory: 1945-2015!.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Many Chinese artists studied in the former Soviet Union in the 1950s, NAMOC director Wu Weishan says.

"They adopted and brought home socialist realism."

This can be seen in such oil works as Mother of a Guerrilla and Victory, Berlin, 1945.

"Seven decades after the victory in the war against fascism, we not only remember the heroes who sacrificed their lives for justice but also esteem artists who recorded the epic fight," Wu says.

The war left more than 35 million Chinese dead or wounded.

If you go

9 am-5 pm, closed on Sept 2-3.

Through the Eyes of History: A Hard Journey to Peace runs through Sept 18; Victory: 1945-2015! runs through Sept 17.

1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district, Beijing.

010-6400-1476.