BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 103 pieces of French artworks from the world-renowned School of Fine Arts in Paris and National Center for Visual Arts are being exhibited at the National Museum of China.

The exhibition, with the theme "Stuff of French Dreams -- Academy and Salon in the 19th Century," focuses on art created in France during the period between the French Revolution and the First World War.

The exhibited works include masterpieces by artists such as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret. They also include sculptures by Francois Rude, who created La Marseillaise bas-relief on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The exhibition, which began on January 31, will run until May 6 this year.

The academy and salons in the 19th century served as creative platforms that allowed different styles of artistic movements such as Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism to flourish, in turn enabling the arts to play a part in social reform and modernization.