In the Portrait series, BEI Jiaxiang downplays the detailed realism of traditional portraiture, zooming in on large-scale faces that almost break through the edges of the canvas. Through the harmonisation of grey tones and the arrangement of colour blocks, he creates a spiritual image that intertwines reality and illusion. 

The visage nearly fills the entire canvas, with hair barely staying within the frame, while the body below the neck is almost completely left blank. BEI does not set a fixed visual centre for the composition; instead, it naturally follows the subject’s expressions and gaze, rising or falling organically. The near-random selection of partial framing represents the artist’s relinquishing of creative control, allowing the subject’s most authentic self to emerge. 

The figures are mostly rendered with light, gentle strokes, while the background is composed of deep grey blocks that establish a sense of depth. This not only echoes Cézanne’s approach to segmenting colour blocks but also incorporates Bernard Wolff’s similar pursuit of light and haziness—using soft tonal halos to envelop the subject, fostering an interweaving of figure and background, and softening objective light and shadow in favour of a more emotional expression. The graceful face emerges from a background of harmonious hues with indistinct boundaries, yet the profound expression leaps vividly off the canvas. 

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