Hailakandi, May 28: The two-year-wait was well worth the fame and honour that greeted painter Shampa Bhattacharjee at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

A painter in acrylic on canvas, Shampa had sent her painting, titled Flower in between Flowers, to the 6th Beijing International Art Biennale in 2015. Nearly 6,650 painters from 103 countries sent 18,386 paintings to the exhibition, held from September 24 to October 15, 2015.

Shampa's painting was selected along with 688 other paintings and sculptures. Memory and Dream was the theme of the exhibition, organised by the Chinese Artists Association.

Officials of the evaluation committee of the National Art Museum of China were present in the exhibition and shortlisted her piece.

Recently, the museum authorities officially purchased the painting for Yen 50,000, or Rs 5 lakh.

"My dream has come true and I can't imagine that my work hangs at the National Art Museum of China ... I started working on Flowers in between Flowers in 2011 and never thought of receiving international accolades for it," said 40-year-old Shampa.

The museum was established in 1958 by Mao Zedong and its collection comprises more than 1 lakh pieces from artists across the globe.

Shampa got an email from an employee of the museum, Sophiya, on September 30, 2015, that they were interested in her creation. And the purchase took a long time to materialise, she said. She received the payment and a certificate recently.

Married to another artist, Shovin Bhattacharjee, Shampa was awarded a masters degree in fine arts by the Silchar-based Assam University. Hailing from Silchar in Assam's Barak Valley, the painter is settled in New Delhi and is currently in Mumbai for her exhibition at Jehangir Art Gallery, which is on till Tuesday. She had earlier completed her Masters degree in philosophy from Gauhati University.

Shampa told The Telegraph that she had been interested in painting right from early childhood.

Noticing her interest and talent in painting, her uncle Sushil Paul requested a noted painter of Barak Valley, Mukunda Debnath, to teach her the techniques of art.

"I began learning from him at the age of 14. I also started to participate in different art exhibitions in the Barak Valley," she said.

"My themes deal with positive things. I love to disseminate the philosophy of positivism through my paintings," she added.