Paintings by 18th and 19th century English artists go on display this Friday at the Shanghai Museum as part of a special exhibition by Tate Britain. It's the largest exhibition of English landscape paintings ever to be shown in China. Reporter Sun Siqi previews the show.

The exhibition opens with oil-on-canvas and watercolor works by artists like J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Thomas Girtin and Thomas Gainsborough. Most landscape paintings were from the English school that spanned the second half of the 18th to the first half of the 19th Century. 

SUN SIQI SHANGHAI "One thing that characterizes works from this period is this 'English light', that is as we see, this whole frame is dominated by this gloomy atmosphere that is very typical of the English weather, but at the same time, there's this very strong beam of cool toned light coming in from the clouds. That's what gives vitality to the whole picture."

WANG JIA, EXHIBITION COORDINATOR SHANGHAI MUSEUM "Turner is best known for his expression of light mixed in with air, especially when water vapor comes in to mess things up a bit. In this avalanche piece, the ice blocks take on a lighter shade, and the clouds are in the dark shadows. The contrast of the light and the dark, and the texture of the ice and the rocks make you feel like you're right there at the scene."

The halls where the paintings will be displayed have blue, red, green, and pink walls that represent the 300-hundred-year transition from an idealistic style with bright, joyful landscapes to fully emotional, classic period-inspired works, to more natural sceneries, and finally, modernism.

YUAN QIMING, DIRECTOR OF DESIGN SHANGHAI MUSEUM "The Tate is very particular about the intensity of lighting on each painting. We worked with them to test the illuminance level for every work, to make sure it's under 200 lux for the oil paintings, and under 50 for the watercolor works."

A total of 71 paintings will be on display with the exhibition running through August.