PARIS -- Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, on invitation visited the Orsay Museum with Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday afternoon.

Brigitte warmly welcomed Peng at the gate of the museum. The wives of the two heads of state entered the museum to appreciate the "Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism" exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The two stopped from time to time to appreciate Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters, and exchanged feelings.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

Peng hoped that artists of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

In the hall of the museum, the wives of the two heads of state had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

The students shared their experiences of learning Chinese and expressed their love for Chinese culture. Peng encouraged them to work hard to learn Chinese well, and take opportunities to study in China, walk around and take a look, so that they can get a true and multi-dimensional view of China.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Founded in 1986, the Orsay Museum is a French national museum, which has the richest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artworks in the world.