Art Lover’s Guide to Shanghai

Named for its address—50 Moganshan Road—the M50 art district earned its place in Shanghai art history in 2001, when artists began renting space in a disused textile mill, kickstarting the city’s art scene. Although some artists and galleries moved out during the pandemic, M50 remains a must-visit and a staple on art tours in Shanghai. Galleries like ShanghART and collectives like island6 showcase Chinese avant-garde artists, but you can find everything from ceramics to mulberry paper paintings—not to mention a range of street art rarely found in China.

One of the leading cultural landmarks in Shanghai, the Shanghai Museum has long been a must for anyone interested in Chinese art history and has hosted one of the globe’s most important collections of Chinese art and artifacts. As the original site evolves into a museum of international civilizations, the vast new Shanghai Museum East showcases its ancient art treasures. Twenty exhibition halls span more than 360,000 square feet (that's 33,000 square meters, or 8 acres) of display space, dedicated to historic Chinese art, from bronze sculptures to jade, ceramics, calligraphy, and painting.

A sleek space in the heart of Shanghai’s business district, the Museum of Art Pudong is one of the best places to see famous art pieces in Shanghai. Alongside works by big-name Chinese contemporary artists, partnerships with museums and galleries worldwide bring the likes of Caravaggio, Raphael, Van Gogh, Dalí, Magritte, Canaletto, and O’Keeffe to the city. There is no permanent collection, but the changing Xu Bing installations are among the must-see artworks in Shanghai.

A stone’s throw from the Bund, the Rockbund Art Museum occupies a lovingly renovated 1930s art deco building that once housed China’s first public museum. An innovative approach to curation sees artists incorporate everything from multimedia to performance to works that center the sense of smell. There’s no permanent collection, but the museum focuses on Chinese and Asian artists to deliver some of Shanghai's most consistently exciting art exhibitions.

As the name suggests, the Power Station of Art occupies an enormous converted power plant on the banks of the Huangpu River. It focuses on huge installations, some of which use the space’s towering chimney. Every two years, the Power Station of Art hosts the Shanghai Biennale, one of China’s biggest contemporary art events, but an ever-changing panel of exhibitions covers topics as diverse as architecture, fashion, and fine jewelry.

This small museum in an old-fashioned office block showcases the owner’s collection of Chinese propaganda posters, with ample info on their role in 20th-century China’s turbulent history. From endlessly benevolent shots of Chairman Mao to heroic peasants and workers, China’s socialist journey is writ large here. There’s also a gift shop where you can stock up on postcards, Mao souvenirs, and original and reproduced posters.

An anchor of Shanghai’s West Bund arts district, the Long Museum (West Bund) pairs dramatic industrial design with centuries of Chinese art and contemporary exhibitions of both Chinese and international art. You’ll find everything from treasures of calligraphy and classical paintings to revolutionary artworks and mellow nudes, with exhibitions featuring work in mediums from photographic negatives to conventional portraits. There’s a sister museum across the river in Pudong.

Relocated from the West Bund to a new, mellow site in the Panlong Tiandi area, with a riverside garden café, Yuz Museum is one of the best Shanghai art galleries for contemporary works. The museum brings Chinese art to the West and Western art to China, with high-profile international exhibitions, including a Giacometti retrospective, a Maurizio Cattelan show, and the Asia premiere of Andy Warhol’s Shadows, plus exhibitions from as far afield as Qatar and LA. The permanent collection features works by Xu Bing, Zhou Jie, and more.

Designed by famed architect Tadao Ando to mimic a jewelry box, this 6-story minimalist gem houses a curated selection of ancient Chinese art treasures, making it one of the top art museums in Shanghai. The permanent collection focuses on Buddhist sculptures, classical blue-and-white ceramics, and early pottery, including warm, naturalistic Han Dynasty figurines and jade pieces from the Stone Age to China’s last imperial dynasty, among them a spectacular burial suit.