1. "Masterpieces of the Pola Museum of Art: From Impressionism to Contemporary Art"

The exhibition is now on at the Shanghai Museum (East Branch).

It is also the first large-scale overseas exhibition of Japan's Pola Museum of Art. Divided into six units, the show features 69 masterpieces by 36 artists.

The Pola Museum of Art was founded in 2002 in Hakone-machi, Kanagawa Prefecture, within the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The museum's art assortment is recognized as Japan's leading private art collection for the 21st century, distinguished by its quality and quantity.

Spanning from the seminal works of early French Impressionists such as Monet and Renoir, through the masterpieces of groundbreaking post-impressionists like Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, who were revered as trailblazers by modern painters, to the epochal creations of 20th-century masters such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Henri Matisse, the exhibition also presents the creations of some big names in the contemporary art world, including Wolfgang Tillmans, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Yayoi Kusama.

Date: Through April 21 (closed on Tuesday and National Holidays),10am–5:30pm

Venue: Shanghai Museum East Branch

Address: 1952 Century Avenue 浦东新区世纪大道1952号

Ticket: 80 yuan, booking can be made through the museum's WeChat mini program: 上海博物馆参观预约 and its WeChat official account: 上海博物馆

2. "Seven Days of the Cad'ota: Xinjiang Niya Ruins Immersive Exhibition"

The exhibition guides visitors to explore the Niya Ruins from the perspective of archeological discovery, as they embark on a "seven-day tour" of the ancient city.

Sited in the Taklamakan Desert, the ancient city of Niya is about 115 kilometers north of today's Niya City in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It was named Cad'ota in the local language and Jingjue in Chinese.

Once shining brilliantly along the Silk Road, Jingjue suddenly vanished. In 1901, British explorer Aurel Stein discovered the "Niya Ruins" in the Taklamakan Desert and confirmed in 1909 that Niya was Jingjue City during the Han (206 BC-AD 220) and Jin (265–420) periods.

This exhibition integrates digital art, interactive theater experience, virtual reality and other cutting-edge technologies, providing an immersive experience to visitors.

It also features more than 100 cultural relic objects from Xinjiang Museum, which are being displayed in Shanghai for the first time. Among them is a replica of a brocade armband from the Han Dynasty embroidered with Chinese characters.

Date: Through July 25, 9am-7pm

Venue: Lafayette Culture and Arts Center

Address: 323 Fuxing Rd M. 复兴中路323号

Admission: 98 yuan

3. "Slithering into Spring – A Celebration of the Year of the Snake"

The exhibition at Shanghai Museum boasts 13 groups of Chinese and foreign cultural relics from Yunnan Lijiashan Bronze Museum, Hubei Provincial Museum and the museum's own collection.

The show tries to give visitors an insight into the snake legend in Chinese history.

One of the highlights is a "Rubbing of Stone Relief with Fuxi and Nüwa Holding the Sun and the Moon". The stone is from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). The rubbing was donated by Xu Senyu's family to Shanghai Museum in 1981.

Dates: 9am-5pm, through March 2 (closed on Mondays)

Address: 201 People's Avenue

Admission: Booking can be made through the museum's WeChat mini program: 上海博物馆参观预约 and its WeChat official account: 上海博物馆

4. 'Kaleidoscope'

"Kaleidoscope", the solo exhibition of artist Zhuang Hongyi, invites visitors to step into a space where the boundary between the interiority of human experiences and the exterior world of nature blur in an interplay of textures and hues.

Featuring over 80 artworks that span the differing times and motions of the artist's oeuvre, the exhibition surprises viewers with a new visual language of the application of paper and colors.

On closer inspection, viewers will find that these works are conjured by the subtle piling up of paper petals sprayed with various layers of hues.

Born in southwest China's Sichuan Province in 1962, Zhuang moved to Europe in 1992. Today he is famous for his intricate use of paper flowers in landscapes and flowerbeds.

The impulsive yet refined details and movements of his works are an attempt at capturing and enunciating an emotive world that transcends language and cultural boundaries.

Date: Through March 23 (close on Mondays), 10am–6pm

Venue: Powerlong Museum

Address: 3055 Caobao Rd 漕宝路3055号

Admission: 58 yuan

5. "Martha Jungwirth"

It is the first solo museum exhibition of Austria's preeminent artist in China.

Born in Vienna in 1940, Jungwirth is widely considered a pivotal figure in post-war Austria. Her works oscillate between abstraction and figuration, drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as personal experiences, memories, travel, literature, current affairs, and art history.

The exhibition features 21 oil paintings, many of which have been widely exhibited across Europe, including her acclaimed 2024 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Each piece begins with a single "stain" of color, and at times, brushstrokes rapidly accumulate into "constellations of colors" through passionate streaks, smears, and cascades of pigment.

Her palette often evokes bodily associations – flesh-toned pink, blood red, bruise-like purples – while her canvases bear traces of her physical movement: finger marks, scratches, and even shoe prints serve as intimate imprints of the artist's physical presence.

The textural intensity and bursts of color on Jungwirth's surfaces are balanced by her delicate sensitivity and restraint. Negative space plays a pivotal role in her compositions, as she favored leaving vast areas of her paper surfaces untouched.

"Paper is a sensual material," she once explained, "smooth or coarse, its texture akin to skin."

Date: Through April 13 (close on Mondays),

10am–5:30pm, from Tuesday to Thursday, 10am–8pm, from Friday to Sunday

Address: 3398 Longteng Avenue

Admission: 260 yuan

6. "Mirror of the Times – Huang Junhui Art Exhibition"

The exhibition currently on show at Hanshan Art Museum reflects the profound thinking and observation of the artist in the current epoch.

In the eyes of the artist, individual identity is being challenged under the conflicts between traditional culture and modernization. Huang Junhui tries to depict the plight of the people who struggle on their way to pursuing their dreams.

His works not only mirror the emotional alienation among people in the process of rapid urbanization but also reveal the breaking and rebuilding of cultural identity under the impact of commercialization.

Viewers may find the fading memories of the countryside and the changes in interpersonal relationships. Although the fast-paced development of the city provides people with abundant material life, yet the loneliness and confusion always haunt them.

For example, in his "Wall of Memories" series, Huang explores the theme of amnesia and memory reconstruction, reflecting a profound concern for the overall fate of people.

The artist is also good at using various materials in his works, such as "The Ship of Theseus" in which he assembles a ship's hull via discarded weaving shuttles.

Huang's works are often filled with a sense of mystery, paradox, and absurdity, while also carrying critical expressions. These pieces frequently leave the viewers with imagination, prompting them to reflect on real-world issues.

Dates: Through March 13 (closed on Mondays), 10am-8pm

Venue: Hanshan Art Museum

Address: 999 Taihu Ave, Suzhou

Admission: free

苏州太湖大道999号