In 1980, Chen went to the United States and studied at Hunter College in New York. In 1983, he held his first solo exhibition in the US at the Hammer Gallery in New York, featuring a series of paintings depicting landscapes and traditional lifestyles in the water towns, which received wide acclaim.

One of the paintings during that period, Hometown Memories: Twin Bridges, was brought to China by Armand Hammer, founding director of the Hammer Galleries, during his visit to Beijing in 1985.

Another painting of the period, Lingering Melodies from the Xunyang River (1991), depicts three female musicians in Chinese costume of the early 1900s. The painting set a record as the first one-million-yuan ($137,000) sale of a Chinese oil painting, marking the debut of China's contemporary oil painting artworks in the international auction market. He continued to break international auction records in the following years.

Rebecca Yang Yuancao, chairman of Christie's China, told China Daily, "I see Chen Yifei's significance as an artist in that he connected the past to the next generation".

Chen's art was deeply rooted in the academic traditions of Chinese oil painting of the 20th century and, with his extensive aesthetic vocabulary, he responded to the social changes and cultural awakening following China's reform and opening-up, she says.

Chen combined a keen observation of reality with the persistent pursuit of visual beauty to create unique visual storytelling. He not only expanded the expressive power of Chinese oil painting but also opened up a path for later artists to be seen by the world.