China Art Museum, Shanghai

The China Art Museum, Shanghai is housed in the former China Pavilion of the Shanghai World Expo. The architecture of the colossal inverted pyramid-shaped building is inspired by Chinese corbel bracket and ancient bronze sacrificial vessels. Soaring 70 metres into the sky, it covers 166,000 square metres with 64,000 square metres of display area for its collection of some 14,000 masterpieces showcasing modern and contemporary art of China.

This is also home to the Animated Scroll, a gigantic multi-media projection of the famed painting “Along the River during Qingming Festival” capturing a day in bustling riverside town Bianjing (modern day Kaifeng) during the Northern Song Dynasty. (Read more in another post on this site). 

There are 27 galleries, several of which are devoted to permanent exhibits tracing the history of Chinese modern and contemporary art, masterworks of star painters and sculptors, and 21st century Chinese art. Other halls are used for staging themed events by local and foreign artists, as well as art treasures from overseas museums. 

Other facilities include a theatre, a conference hall and a library providing year-round buzz for the art community. In addition, visitors can refresh themselves in the cafes or pick up some art books and souvenirs in the other outlets.  

Note: Images of paintings are rendered without digital effects. 

The massive staircase that counterbalances the towering museum building can be challenging for some visitors. Fortunately it’s a breeze riding up escalator on the side.

Entering the bowels of the gargantuan museum. Give yourself a half day if you want to really pour over the works.

At the railway station.

Meeting of great powers. 
Handshake of Nixon and Zhou Englai before their historic pow wow.

Heroic paintings of the people’s struggle.

East meets west in Chinese brush technique and American abstract expressionism.

This gallery “Special Collection of Masterworks” pays tribute to seven patriarchs of the “Shanghai school” and their diversity of styles including the fusion of east and west.

Family outing with that ubiquitous camera.

A serene Soong Qing Ling, wife of Dr Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China that swept away the Qing Dynasty. She was highly revered for her devotion to the motherland even after the Communist revolution, for which she was awarded the title of Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China in 1981.

Art goes pop in this wirework creation.

Colourful modernist sculptures in a courtyard.

Sculptures of migrant workers staring blankly into an uncertain future.

Is she real? Meet this affable farmer with her produce near the exit.