Born in Shanghai, Christian Lu grew up in a richly cultured environment, and learned painting from several well-established artists, such as Liu Haisu, Yan Wenliang and Lin Fengmian, until he went to Paris to further pursue his artistic dream in 1981.

There, Lu studied under the guidance of Chinese French master Zao Wou-ki, introduced by Lin who was Zao's teacher and headmaster at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Lu also worked as Zao's assistant for seven years. He learned from the master how to integrate Chinese cultural traditions with the language of oil painting.

Dreams of Clouds, an exhibition through Nov 9 at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, shows dozens of Lu's oil paintings made since 2014 in which his brushwork of subtle yet and color arrangements of vibrancy present a dreamy, buoyant feeling. They exhibit an influence of Song Dynasty (960-1279) painters who depicted landscapes in a half-realistic, semi-abstract approach, and who sought self-cultivation and a connection with the universe in paintings.