Dialogue of cultures in the work of the Chinese painter Jin Shangyi

This article examines the work of the Chinese artist Jin Shangyi, one of the pioneers of oil painting in China. The creative experiments of the artist, his knowledge of European traditions in fine arts, and his assimilation of the Russian art school added the name of Jin Shangyi to the gallery of the best artists of modern China. This article considers the main domain of the artist’s work, mentions the most striking works in his artistic legacy, and analyzes the stages of his development. An important aspect in studying the artist’s work is an appeal to his literary notes, to analyze the creative goals that Jin Shangyi set himself. Through studying the technique of oil painting, and actively introducing this technique into the art education of China, Jin Shanyi was able to rationally rethink and highlight the most valuable parts in the Western European realist genre, Russian realism, and Western European modernism. The most important outcome of his work is that he was constantly in dialogue with the national traditions of China. His own artistic explorations led to the emergence of a new style of «neoclassicism», which subsequently gained wide popularity in the pictorial art of China.