In 1990, he climbed Jiajin Mountain in Sichuan, following a difficult mountain route whose different sections had vivid names given by local people. Years later, much of what he saw there had disappeared. An old town was submerged following the construction of a reservoir, while a road replaced the mountain trail.
"What I experienced there — the breathlessness and hardship of climbing — disappeared along with the old road," Shen says. "I rely on painting to express it. It is a communication from heart to heart."
That sense of urgency — the desire to preserve what could no longer be seen — lies at the heart of Shen's artistic practice.
Wang Ning, president of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, says Shen spent decades retracing the Long March route, using his journeys to connect historical memory with firsthand experience.
"Through his travels, he has preserved the epic event through his brush," Wang says. "His practice of creating art through travel and observation has allowed him to remain true to the original spirit of the revolution and to restore the authenticity of that history."
The exhibition is divided into six sections, with the early gouache and sketches forming a significant part of the presentation.
"The original gouache paintings and sketches made along the Long March route from 1975 to 1977 are being exhibited publicly in Beijing for the first time," Wang notes. "They are rare historical materials and precious works of art."
Art critic and chairman of the China Artists Association Fan Di'an says these early sketches are also crucial to understanding Shen's creative method.
Fan notes that Shen's extensive field studies allowed him to combine historical reality with his emotions as he encountered the landscapes and people along the route. His sketches became a visual foundation for later historical paintings, while his finished works were already shaped by his field observations.
"His solid accumulation of sketches allows him to return to the historical space of the Long March the moment he puts pen to paper," Fan says.
Fan describes Shen's decades-long artistic career as a journey in its own right.
"Shen Yaoyi's artistic career can be described as a 'long march' of its own," Fan says. "Through his work, he has transformed his personal experiences into a shared national memory."
For Shen, that memory is ultimately about people, not landscapes.
"Whenever I talked about the Long March on the road, whether with a guide, a boatman, or even grandparents I met only once, they felt like old friends," he says. "When I paint landscapes, I always feel that it is not as meaningful as facing the human heart."
For Shen, the final connection is between the paintings and the viewers.
"Paintings and the viewers communicate directly," he says. "It does not rely on words or language, only on an aesthetic direction. If people like it, they will find resonance. Perhaps that resonance is the meaning of this exhibition."
