Determined, fearless and powerful, his figure paintings depict images of resilient Chinese soldiers. Poetic, tender and romantic, his landscape paintings capture the varying beauty of Chinese scenery. These contrasting styles come from the hands of one oil painter, Sun Lixin.

As a full-time painter at the Military Museum of The Chinese People's Revolution for more than 20 years, Sun has recorded a number of China's crucial wars and historical figures of the past century. Some of his works are in the collections of the China National Art Museum and the National Museum. Some are displayed in the museum he works for, a museum that's considered the most important witness to China's military history.

Sun recounted an incident that made him realize the power that paintings have to reach audiences far and wide.

"One day, seven war survivors came to the Military Museum of The Chinese People's Revolution, and unexpectedly saw my painting 'The Fierce Songgufeng Battle.' They asked to meet the painter. The seven veterans were very excited to meet me. They held my hands and expressed their gratitude. They were thrilled to know that they hadn't been forgotten and to see that battle and their old comrades-in-arms in the painting. They sobbed, and I was also moved."

When depicting Chinese soldiers, Sun first studies their lives and individual characteristics by traveling to where they fought enemies. To portray Yang Jingyu, a wartime hero, Sun chose to paint the final moment of the soldier's life.

He said, "What I wanted to express about Yang Jingyu was that he fought until the last moment of his life. His weight was no longer on his feet. He was leaning against the tree. He had been shot, and blood was flowing from his chest into the snow. He was unable to lift his hands. To me, this is the most touching moment. I wanted to present a sense of power, like a sculpture."

With a strong sensibility for artistic expression, Sun shone in a national art project in 2012, where artists were asked to portray Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Sun's novel approach made his painting stand out. He explained, "I wanted to draw the scene of Genghis Khan and his troops heading for war. I painted the setting sun blood-like and the mountains as boundless as the ocean."

Over the following five years, Sun constantly refined the painting and mulled over the image of each character. In 2017, the grand oil painting was completed; and from this, Sun made his name. The same year, he held a solo exhibition in the biggest hall of the National Art Museum of China, the greatest honor for any Chinese artist.

The exhibition showcased the different styles of Sun's creations. If his military-themed works were considered witnesses to the nation's history, then his years of plein-air paintings on display were believed to have been records of his own life.

In 1980, Sun Lixin started working as a film art designer at the August First Film Studio. He traveled to various places around China with different crews. This experience unexpectedly enabled him to pursue his interest in landscape painting.

Clay houses of the 1980s, desolate mountains of northwest China, and the vast grassland of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Sun described these early paintings as "plain in style and simple in color." He has continually been on the road since then, capturing natural beauty with his brushes. In his words, paintings are "his visual journals."

"I took my painting tools wherever I went to capture the vivid feelings around me. Big paintings usually take a long time, so I often do small plein-air paintings, some 30 square centimeters in size. I've been doing such small-sized ones for more than 20 years."

Years of relentless practice have strengthened his ability to convey more than just what he sees. Sun noted, "I'd like my paintings to reveal my feelings from deep in my mind."

"Snow Scenes in My Hometown" is an important series of Sun's plein-air paintings. Snow in the sunlight, snow in the moonlight, falling snow, and melting snow all contribute to the complete picture of his hometown of Dandong in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

Compared to his early works, Sun's plein-air paintings later turned much warmer and more poetic. "Being poetic is a very implicit expression of traditional Chinese culture," he remarked.

In recent years, old courtyards on the outskirts of Beijing have become Sun's new muse. With the object changing from vast natural landscapes to small spaces where people live, his habits in dealing with hues have become more refined than ever before.

It has been more than 50 years since Sun began to learn to paint at the age of 15. He considers himself lucky to have focused on one thing his whole life, using colors and shadows to dazzle and record history.