Hunan Art Museum

Hunan Art Museum

Hunan’s magical mountains have inspired artists for centuries. You can see classic Chinese ink paintings showcasing their beauty in this expansive new museum, alongside some wonderful contemporary paintings – in both the Chinese and Western styles. In the permanent collection you will find Chinese landscapes in the monochromatic classical ink brush style developed by Dong Yuan in the 10^th Century. There are meditative mountain views from contemporary artists like Haizhong Lin, Mo Li Tang and Halao Feng and intricate details – like Jingxin Zhou’s huge, giant fish paintings. These sit alongside more expressionistic and political paintings like Liu Xijie’s sweeping brush stroke portraits which are filled with psychological insight and Xiuping Qin’s Garden Tour which satirises the impact of Western culture on China. The art museum has a lovely gift shop filled with prints and illustrated books with works chosen by the artists themselves.