Christian Poirot pays homage to the Nanjing Massacre with his painting, "Deliverance." (Photo : China News)
Christian Poirot, a French artist, has donated his oil painting "Deliverance" to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
Considered as his biggest piece yet, "Deliverance" is a 2.35-meter-high and 7.46-meter-long painting that depicts various violent scenes under dark clouds, such as invaders beheading Chinese and orphans crying by dead bodies.
What is called today as the Nanjing Massacre, around 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed after the city was invaded by the Japanese from Dec. 1937 to Jan. 1938.
Last year, the Chinese government has designated Dec. 13 as the National Memorial Day for Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Poirot, like other Europeans, know only a little about the carnage. It was two years ago when he was traveling past the city that he learned from a friend that thousands of Chinese were killed there.
Shocked about the gruesome incident, he decided to create "Deliverance." He started working on the piece January this year after obtaining study documents and photos of the massacre.
"I hope to let more people know about the atrocities the Japanese committed during the war," he shared.
Poirot received a certificate presented by Zhang Jianjun, the memorial hall's curator. He was also granted with the honorary citizenship of the Nanjing City.
The French artist, born in 1961, is a member of L'Institut de France. A prominent icon among his peers, he felt honored when two of his pieces were bought by none other than French President Jacques Chirac and became part of the leader's private collection.
