Jiangsu Art Museum, on Changjiang Road in Nanjing’s Xuanwu District, occupies a special place in the history of Chinese art. Built in 1936, it was the first national-level art museum in modern China, a milestone that marked the formal beginning of the country’s museum-based art development. Architect Xi Fuquan designed its original building, once known as the National Art Gallery. The façade of the main hall takes the shape of the Chinese character “山” (mountain), blending tr

Jinling Art Museum, located at No. 50 Jianzi Alley, Laomendong, Qinhuai District, Nanjing, is a comprehensive art institution devoted to exhibition, collection, and research. Its overall design was led by a renowned Chinese designer. The guiding concept was to preserve the original character of the industrial heritage site while making thoughtful adjustments to the interior structure and maximizing the use of space to meet the needs of modern exhibition practices. At the same

If you travel to Istanbul, what first rises in most people’s minds is probably the domes of its mosques, the wind off the Bosphorus, the legends of Topkapı Palace, or the particular kind of “imperial last splendor” embodied by Dolmabahçe Palace. But this time, what truly made me stop was neither a dome nor a chandelier. It was a group of paintings. I walked into the National Palaces Painting Museum, which operates under the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye. What it holds

1. What makes Morandi exceptional in an age of outward art Among the major responses to the crises of the early twentieth century, Giorgio Morandi is unusual because he did not answer violence with visual violence. Much of European modernism moved outward: Futurism glorified speed and impact, Expressionism externalized psychic intensity, and Dada turned war into rupture, provocation, absurdity, and anti-art. Morandi chose the opposite direction. He reduced the world instead o

Cheng Shifa Art Museum is located on Hongqiao Road in Shanghai’s Changning District, in the well-known Gubei area. The museum is operated by the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, but it was named in honor of the celebrated Shanghai School artist Cheng Shifa. That background also makes it clear what the museum centers on: Chinese painting is the core of its collection and exhibitions. The building itself is understated yet grand, not unlike the Liu Haisu Art Museum. Both in a

Over the past six months or so, I have visited many art museums, but I often find myself thinking about one question: how can the artworks displayed in glass cases and picture frames form a real connection with viewers? That connection is not about teaching viewers the materials or techniques of a painting, nor even about introducing them to artistic schools or styles. Rather, it is about helping them truly understand and feel the emotions and thoughts an artist experienced w

The Shanghai Rodin Art Center is located at No. 1929, Expo Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. It is an art institution converted from the former French Pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and is currently presenting the major exhibition “Rodin: The Inheritance and Evolution of Modern Sculpture.” The center’s main building covers more than 8,000 square meters, with 4,200 square meters of exhibition space. Its exterior features a structure that appears to float above the g

The Shanghai chi K11 Art Museum is located on level B3 of the K11 Art Mall at 300 Middle Huaihai Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. It was established in 2013, with a total area of approximately 3,000 square meters. When I visited today, the museum had only one open exhibition: "Golden Glimpses of Dunhuang — An Exhibition of Kirikane Art." The exhibition features kirikane artworks by Dou Wei, a researcher at the Dunhuang Academy and an artist. What is kirikane art? It was a te

The Liu Haisu Art Museum is located at 1609 West Yan'an Road, Changning District, Shanghai, with a total floor area of 12,540 square meters. According to the official introduction, the museum's collection is primarily based on artworks donated by Liu Haisu himself, comprising 913 pieces — including historical calligraphy and paintings by masters of various dynasties that Liu collected throughout his lifetime, as well as his own oil paintings, traditional Chinese paintings, an

Not long ago, I paid a visit to the Picasso Art Center in Shanghai. The exhibition had a rather poetic title, Back to the Origin: Picasso and Africa, a showcase of Sino-African art and cultural exchange. To be honest, walking in, I was skeptical: Picasso, a Spaniard... what "origin" could he possibly share with Africa? The exhibition promptly slapped me across the face with the answer. Zimbabwean woodcarvings, stone sculptures, and oil paintings on canvas stood side by side w

Today, I had originally planned to visit the Shanghai Museum. But when I arrived at the entrance, I discovered that starting May 6th, the museum had closed for renovations and wouldn't reopen until early July. So I pulled up the Amap app on my phone and started searching for nearby art galleries worth exploring. That's when the "Shanghai Picasso Art Center" caught my eye. It's a century-old Western-style townhouse nestled in the bustling heart of Shanghai. I noticed from the

The Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art was founded in 2003 by the Hongkou District Bureau of Culture and Tourism (formerly the Hongkou District Bureau of Culture). It is the first public museum on the Chinese mainland dedicated to contemporary art and the first professionally run modern art museum established on a government platform in China. Located at No. 27 Duolun Road, Hongkou District, the museum was planned and built with a modern, multi-functional vision. As a non-p

Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum is a non-profit art museum located on the 6th floor of 27 Zhongshan East First Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai. The Bund venue opened on September 30, 2018, within the historic Jardine Matheson Building, a protected heritage structure. It belongs to the Jiushi Art Museum cluster, which also includes Jiushi Art Space at Bund 18 and Jiushi Art Salon at 230 Beijing East Road. On 31 March 2026, the new wing of Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum officially open

The Nanjing Golden Eagle Art Museum is located on the 52nd floor of Tower A, Golden Eagle World, Hexi, Nanjing. Founded in 2020, this museum keeps such a low profile that finding the direct elevator to the entrance requires some effort. During today's visit, a small solo exhibition was on display: "Rehearsal in the Mist"—a solo art exhibition by Chen Wei . According to public information, this contemporary artist, who focuses on photography, installation, and video art, typic

The Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum is a contemporary art museum located in the Waitanyuan (Bund Source) area, at the confluence of the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek. It is housed in the Royal Asiatic Society Building, constructed in 1932 in the Art Deco style — a historically protected landmark that was once one of China's earliest natural history museums. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Waitanyuan area is surrounded by a cluster of historic foreign-built architectur

Last weekend, I had planned to visit the Aurora Art Museum, only to observe upon arrival that no exhibitions were on. Glancing across the street, I noticed the Aurora Museum was open, with several permanent collections covering ancient Chinese ceramics, jade, porcelain, and Buddhist sculptures. Since I was already there, I bought a ticket and wandered in. In the jade research gallery, one display case stopped me in my tracks. It held an array of both natural and man-made ston

I had originally planned to visit the Aurora Art Museum today, only to find upon arrival that there were no exhibitions on. Across the street, however, the Aurora Museum was running several permanent exhibitions covering ancient Chinese ceramic sculpture, jade, porcelain, and Buddhist statuary. As it happened, I had visited a few galleries at the Shanghai Museum East Bund just the previous week—covering much the same ground—so it seemed intriguing to see how this institution,

Have you ever felt puzzled while wandering through a museum? The jade artifacts in the display cases—warm, lustrous, and archaic in form—look nothing like the vivid, dripping-green jadeite bracelets in the jewelry shops outside, yet both are called "jade" ( yù ). Were the jade pendants worn at the waist by ancient scholars truly the same thing as the jadeite bracelet on your grandmother's wrist today? The answer is no. The question sounds simple, but behind it lies thousands

On the third floor of the Shanghai Museum's East Building, there is an exhibition hall worth a special visit—the Ancient Chinese Ceramics Gallery. The exhibition unfolds along a timeline, from the first lump of clay shaped by prehistoric hands to the gossamer-thin glazed wares crafted by Qing Dynasty artisans. Each of these objects encapsulates thousands of years of civilizational warmth. After walking through the gallery, many visitors find a quiet question forming in their

A few days ago, a friend and I fell into an intriguing conversation: if you had to describe classical Chinese painting in just three adjectives, which would you choose? The question may appear straightforward, yet responding to it elicits hesitation—the intricacy of Chinese painting surpasses the confines of just three adjectives. We talked for a long time, our answers each emphasizing different things, but there was one word I knew from the very start I would use: restrained