[Photo provided to China Daily]

Pan used not just his fingers but also his palms to produce paintings of flowers and birds. Cui expanded it further by using the technique in landscape paintings and even calligraphy.

Highlights of Cui's ongoing show are such works as the Red Maple and White Snow, the 56-meter-long Forestry Hills with Intoxicating Snow and Poetic Painting of Du Mu.

"The finger-ink technique was originally suitable for small pieces," says Feng Yuan, vice-chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, an industry body. "So, the layouts and structures of Cui's paintings become unique as the technique moves to such large-scale works."

Cui, who also uses brushes for some of his works, attributes his inspiration to Shi Tao and Bada Shanren, two prominent Chinese painters from the 17th century.

"Cui's works are powerful and shocking, but they are harmonious as well," says museum director Shan Jixiang. "The details are also exquisite."

About 15 of Cui's paintings will be permanently displayed at the museum, deputy director Wang Yamin says.

The institution not only houses cultural relics but also records a long list of premier artworks, in a process that can no longer exclude modern masters.

But the museum decided not to collect too many pieces of any one master so as to make it easier for future generations to review them as national treasures, Wang says.