5 of the best art museums in Beijing

1. National Art Museum of China 中国美术馆

This centrally located art museum has 17 exhibition halls with an exhibition area of 8,300 square meters. The main building is itself a traditional architecture with ancient Chinese attics and roofed with yellow glazed tiles and surrounded by corridors and pavilions.

There are over 100,000 pieces of various collections on display. It houses the works of different periods and great artworks of Chinese art masters from the end of the 19th century till today. The artworks on dispaly also include some ancient paintings and calligraphy works, foreign artistic works as well as plentiful folk art works.

The have an amazing capacity for turn-around of different exhibitions. New ones almost every week, so the chances of finding something of your interest are quite high.

2. Poly Art Museum 保利艺术博物馆

Poly Museum is designed to develop and display traditional national culture and art, and to rescue and protect Chinese cultural relics lost abroad. The museum mainly consists of two parts of the exhibition: bronze and stone carvings.

Most of the exhibits have been retrieved from abroad, and a considerable part has especially high historical and artistic value as they are quintessence or the only existing versions.

The “Bronze Art Exhibition” houses over 100 pieces (groups) of excellent bronzes that present the development and charm of China ‘s ancient bronze civilization. The “Stone Carvings Exhibition” displays over 40 exquisite stone carvings from the fifth to eighth century, a peak period of China ‘s Buddhist art.

Now the Poly Art Museum is regarded in China and abroad as one of the best known art museums in the Chinese mainland.

It is a well hidden gem in Beijing. Just do not expect any large museum shop or souvenirs, this small muzeum is really about the collection itself.

3. Museum of CAFA 中央美术学院美术馆

Originally built in 1953, the new Art Museum of China Central Academy of Fine Arts (formerly CAFA Gallery) is now located in the campus of CAFA (No.8, Huajiadi Nan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing).

The museum covers an area of 14,777 m2 with the total exhibition and display are of over 6,000 m2 . F2 is designed for permanent gallery, displaying permanent exhibits, including selected collections and works by some great artist, etc.; F3 and 4 are the thematic exhibition gallery with open space and daylight curtain, providing sufficient space for contemporary art exhibition and large art & culture show.

4. Han Meilin Art Museum 韩美林艺术馆

Beijing Han Meilin Art Museum is the largest personal art museums in China and exclusively dedicated to Han, whose works range from painting, calligraphy, sculpture and installation. Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist most recognized today for his creation of the Fuwa dolls for the 2008 Beijing olympics.

Throughout his career, he has published painting albums as Meilin’s Paintings, Art Works of Han Meilin, Mountain Flowers in Full Bloom, Still on the Earth, 100-chicken Paintings, Painting Collection of Han Meilin and Selection of Arts and Crafts Works of Han Meilin and more.Han Meilin Art Museum (Beijing, China). The art of master artist Han Meilin is wonderfully varied and reflects the range of monumental changes in China over the past 50 years.

He has also launched an art scholarship fund to help talented students who are not able to continue their studies. The first stage of the fund, 2 million yuan ($32,000), will be given to students in Tsinghua University.

5. National Museum of China 中国国家博物馆

NMC is a comprehensive and integrated national museum under the administration of the Ministry of Culture of China. It mainly focuses on a wide range of themes both on history and art. It is dedicated to its collections, exhibitions, research, archeology, public education and cultural communication.

Tip: Hassle-free Beijing Guided Tours

If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for Beijing guided tours:

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