In China, the horse is associated with vigor, nobility, and resilience. During the Tang dynasty, from the 7th to the 10th centuries, painters captured the creatures on hanging scrolls. The genre did not reach its full flowering, however, until Jesuit missionaries arrived at the imperial court in the late Ming and early Qing periods and introduced European conventions of anatomy and perspective. Horse painting, already centuries old, was suddenly transformed. In this Year of the Horse (2026!), “Heavenly Horses” traces the full arc of the equine presence in Chinese art with 100 works by more than 60 artists on view. —Elena Clavarino