In his widely read review of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, German writer and composer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann said pure music, or instrumental music, was "the most romantic of all arts, one might almost say the only one that is genuinely romantic since its only subject matter is infinity".

Such romance and richness of music inspired Symphony Sound & Living, an ongoing exhibition at the Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing through Nov 4, which explores the common grounds of different forms of art and how they, together, evoke emotions and imagination among viewers.