A painting shown at the exhibition at the China National Academy of Painting, Beijing, May 9. [Photo/art.china.cn]

A Belt and Road Initiative themed art exhibition is currently under way at the China National Academy of Painting in Beijing.

The event features 112 art pieces, including 71 Chinese traditional paintings, 11 oil paintings, 20 block prints and 10 public art works. They all are the works of painters who drew them from the places related to the initiative.

And the showpieces are also the artists' explorations during their creation.

Yang Xiaoyang, president of the China National Academy of Painting, praised the explorations.

"Each artist has his or her own style during their art experiment. After continuous work, even today's small creations could become great ones in the future. And they will certainly stand for the highest level works during this period," Yang said.

The academy started a project related to the Belt and Road Initiative in 2014, with selection of 258 topics out of 600 proposals. Artists were asked to create their own works based on the topics. Many of them visited the provinces and regions along the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road. The exhibition is a fruit of their work in the past three years.

The event opened on May 9 and will run until May 16.