Festival Croisements 2014 opens with French art exhibition

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"Festival Croisements", the biggest French cultural event in the world, which kicked off on April 11 at the National Museum of China. The opening exhibition "Ten Masterpieces of French Painting" features some of the most recognisable works from France's five top museums.

Ten iconic works of French art united here at the National Museum of China. For the first time, five world-class museums in France, including the Louvre are jointly hosting an exhibition in a foreign land.

French Ambassador to China Madame Sylvie Bermann attends the opening of the exhibition. She says cultural exchanges like these serve as an important catalyst for friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

"It's the 9th edition of the Croisements Festival and it coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China, putting our rich artistic exchanges in the limelight. The number 9 (Jiu) has an auspicious value according to the Chinese tradition, and is also a homonym for longevity (Jiu), firmly inscribed in a logic of duration and maturity," she said.

The Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Picasso Museum, the Versailles Museum and the Pompidou Center have put on a cultural feast for Chinese art buffs, truly la creme de la creme.