Shanghai Liu Haisu Art Museum

Shanghai Liu Haisu Art Museum

The Liu Haisu Art Museum is an emerging national modern art museum in Shanghai. It is located in the Hongqiao Development Zone in the western part of Shanghai, boasting a pleasant environment and convenient transportation. It is named after Mr. Liu Haisu, one of the founding figures of China’s New Art Movement. The museum officially opened on March 16, 1995. It integrates the roles of an art museum, a small museum, and a personal memorial, though its primary function is that of an art museum—providing art education to the public, organizing academic research, facilitating domestic and international cultural exchanges, and advancing the cause of art in China. The Liu Haisu Art Museum is committed to serving both domestic and international art professionals and enthusiasts with high-caliber exhibitions and quality services. The museum boasts a well-developed professional service system. Its operational structure mainly consists of a research department, an exhibition department, and an administrative office, along with a comprehensive security system. Although its floor space covers only 5,000 square meters, the building features a modern design, complete functionality, and advanced equipment. The museum houses five fully equipped exhibition halls, an international conference hall with audiovisual and simultaneous interpretation capabilities, a climate-controlled painting storage room, a library and reading room, artist studios, meeting rooms, as well as an art gallery and the Haishu Bookstore.

Since its opening, the Liu Haisu Art Museum has hosted numerous academically significant art exhibitions, such as the “Contemporary Oil Painting Art Exhibition,” the “China Art Exhibition – Qi Baishi Works, Liu Haisu Works, Lin Fengmian Works,” the “Contemporary Chinese Landscape Paintings and Oil Painting Scenery Exhibition,” the “Los Angeles Four-Person Exhibition,” the “Li Keran Chinese Painting Exhibition,” the “Shanghai Exhibition of International Art Donated by the Ludwig Couple from the Collection of the National Art Museum of China,” the “Qi Baishi Masterpieces Exhibition from the Collection of the National Art Museum of China,” the “Invitational Exhibition of Renowned Chinese Neo-Realist Oil Painters,” and the “Huang Zhou Painting Art Exhibition,” among others. Within just a few years, it has established a strong academic reputation in the art world. At the same time, as signature events, the biennial “Shanghai Youth Art Exhibition” and the annual “Masters Start Here” art education series have significantly enhanced the museum’s appeal among young people and within the field of art education. The museum also places great emphasis on research related to Liu Haisu’s art, having published several works including the hardcover catalog “Liu Haisu Art Museum Collection · Chinese Artworks Through the Dynasties,” the hardcover catalog “Liu Haisu Art Museum Collection · Liu Haisu Paintings,” the essay collection “Studies on Liu Haisu,” and the research monograph “Liu Haisu.”

The Liu Haisu Art Museum’s collection primarily consists of artworks donated by Mr. Liu Haisu himself. This includes paintings and calligraphy by master artists from various dynasties that he collected throughout his life, as well as some of his most representative oil paintings, traditional Chinese paintings, and calligraphy masterpieces. Among the ancient paintings in the collection are several rare treasures, such as the “Streamside Seclusion” (attributed) by Guan Tong of the Five Dynasties, the “Dense Forest and Layered Peaks” (attributed) by Ju Ran of the Northern Song Dynasty, the “Meeting of the Western Tribes” by Li Zao of the Jin Dynasty, the “Autumn Hunting Scene” by Qiu Ying, the “Peacock” by Bada Shanren, the “Yellow Mountain” by Shitao, as well as album leaves by Dong Qichang and Shen Zhou. Liu Haisu’s own representative works include the traditional Chinese painting “The Spectacular One-Line Sky of Huangshan” and the oil paintings “Sunset at Notre-Dame de Paris” and “Snow at Taihu Workers’ Sanatorium.” In recent years, the museum has also systematically acquired outstanding works by many contemporary artists.