Oil painting Tibetan Royal Dance, created by Jin Shangyi. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Although contemporary art has developed with varying mediums and styles, realistic oil paintings still enjoy a large fan base in China.

The Chinese Academy of Oil Painting is showing 180 paintings at its Beijing gallery through August 10, which demonstrates the spectrum of realism of Chinese artists.

The exhibition, titled China Spirit, brings veteran and up-and-coming painters nationwide together, the oldest being 89 years old.

Featured works include established artists, such as Jin Shangyi, whose explorations have helped translate oil painting as a Western style into the Chinese context.

There are also young painters who are pushing the boundaries of oil painting forward by incorporating a vanguard spirit.

The exhibition toured in Jinan, Xi'an, Wuhan, Chongqing and Baotou of Inner Mongolian autonomous region from November 2016 to earlier this year, receiving more than 260,000 viewers.