Master class in oil painting

In the painting, his exquisite treatment of the contrast between light and dark－the highlighting of the bride's face and red scarf against a dark background－shows the influence of classical European paintings he saw at museums that he visited while in the United States for a year in 1982.

Tajik Bride is one of his most famous works and is like that of Luo Zhongli's Father, which is also part of the collection of the National Art Museum of China.

Speaking about the work, Jin says what makes this painting eye-catching is that it "offers a feeling of peace, harmony, nobility and purity".

Jin produced two identical paintings of Tajik Bride and the other one was at an exhibition of Chinese oil paintings in Japan over 1983-84. It was later acquired by a Japanese collector and in 2013, it was sold at a Beijing auction for 85 million yuan ($12.67 million).

Besides painting ordinary people, Jin also depicts historic figures as a tribute to Chinese cultural traditions.