From Paris to Pudong

Exhibits will include most of the Impressionist masters, Li says. Another Van Gogh painting that will be presented is Self Portrait created in 1887.

"Like The Gleaners by Millet, these are paintings we are long familiar with, since we see them in schoolbooks," Li says.

The exhibition also will have some of the most representative creations of such masters as Manet, Monet and Renoir. These artworks will occupy exhibition halls spread across two stories of MAP.

"If you check the list of its most important artworks on the official website of the d'Orsay, you will find almost a quarter of them have been taken off the wall and shipped to MAP," she says.

She reveals that the total insured value of these artworks exceeds 10 billion yuan ($1.39 billion).

"So, the significance of the exhibition is evident."

As early as in 2018, when still under construction, the Shanghai museum had contacted the team of the Musee d'Orsay, hoping one day it could host a large-scale exhibition, Li says. Being an internationally recognized institution, Musee d'Orsay is widely admired by art lovers all over the world for its collection.

"We kept close contact with d'Orsay for a long time, because we wanted to have a very big exhibition and hoped d'Orsay could bring its most treasured pieces to Shanghai," she says.

Planning and preparation for this exhibition started in 2022.

"During this period of about three years, we on both sides had lots of discussions and chose these heavyweight artworks", she says.

"I am excited that the exhibition will soon become reality and be presented to the public in Shanghai."