Portrait of a Young Man, by Raphael and assistant, 1518-19. CHINA DAILY

Solana pointed out that the new exhibition was specifically tailored to suit the Shanghai museum and that it will not be held in another location. He added that although the private Thyssen-Bornermisza collection went on show in China in the 1990s before it was acquired by the Spanish state, the artworks featured at the current exhibition have never been shown in the country before.

Divided into eight sections, the exhibition features masterpieces that cover diverse genres, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes and customs. The exhibition documents the development of Western art from the Renaissance in the 15th century to Cubism in the 20th century and encapsulates a plethora of pivotal art movements and styles, including works of Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Expressionism.

Among the artists whose work is featured are Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Georgia O'Keeffe and Andrew Wyeth.

Solana gave two lectures on the first weekend of the exhibition, one on the women depicted in the exhibition, and the other about the history of landscape in Western art.

During the former, he spoke about the image of a horsewoman painted by Manet (1832-1883) and said the character, thanks to Manet's technique of free brush-strokes, has "an androgynous look of apparent spontaneity and freshness", and that the black costume she is wearing reveals the artist's mastery of black tones.

Back in 2011, the painting was featured as a highlight in Manet, the Man Who Invented Modernity at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, and the painting was chosen as the key visual for the publicity. A poster featuring the iconic image attracted widespread interest in the exhibition.