Year of the Snake, Auspicious and Prosperous

Good luck and blessings last long.

Golden snake presents auspiciousness, bringing fortune to the arrival of spring. During the Chinese Lunar Year of the Snake, the China Art Palace (Shanghai Museum of Art) will remain open, with an even more intensified festive atmosphere! From the enormous fiery red gourd paper cuttings inspired by the "Moon Over the Sea · Commemorating the 180th Anniversary of Wu Changshuo's Birth Art Exhibition," to a plethora of ten exhibitions and over twenty activities in the New Year "art feast," there are also limited edition delicacies and new cultural and creative products... This New Year, come to the China Art Palace (Shanghai Museum of Art) to experience the rich festive atmosphere.

01. "Fu Lu" auspiciously ascends step by step, bringing blessings to every household, rising higher with each step.

On the morning of the first day of the lunar new year at 10:00, China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) presented the first batch of visitors with a new year "福" character and exquisite picture album, wishing everyone abundant blessings always by their side.

In the Year of the Snake, China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) specially drew inspiration from numerous works of Wu Changshuo in the ongoing "Sea and Moon - Commemorative Exhibition of the 180th Anniversary of Wu Changshuo's Birth" to create a renewed scene for this traditional door decoration, adding an auspicious atmosphere of "福禄" to the Spring Festival of the Snake Year. This carefully carved gourd door decoration features 66 different-shaped "福" characters, cleverly incorporating auspicious elements from Wu Changshuo's paintings such as "plum, persimmon, bamboo, and narcissus". As visitors ascend the steps, the blessings and good fortune surround them, opening up a year of smooth sailing.

China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) has a special interactive check-in activity for the New Year called "Double Blessings, Auspicious Snake Welcomes Spring." Visitors who successfully check-in will receive a limited edition exquisite art book. By deeply integrating art and folk customs, this activity allows visitors to experience the auspicious world depicted by Wu Changshuo's brushwork, and incorporate the blessings of "Double Blessings" into their memories of the Chinese New Year.

On the 9-meter platform, the "New Year Calligraphy Blessing Event" is slowly unfolding. The Shanghai calligraphy masters "dream team" composed of Ding Shenyang, Chen Xiang, Pan Shanzhu, Zhang Weisheng, Li Jing, Chao Yukui, Xu Qinghua, Tian Wenhui, Xuan Jiaxin, etc., are on-site, waving their brushes and writing down various styles of auspicious "福" characters, conveying blessings for the Year of the Snake from the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum). Mr. Liu, one of the spectators, said, "This year, I intentionally brought my child to the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Not only can we witness the creation of the calligraphy masters up close, but we can also bring home their '福' characters. It's truly meaningful!"

02. Ten art exhibitions and over twenty activities. A variety of artistic flavors are blooming for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

From now on, the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) officially launches the "Artistic Flavor in the Year of the Snake" themed event for the Spring Festival. This event, which covers 8 days of the long holiday, includes lectures by renowned artists, special guided tours, and traditional intangible cultural heritage experiences. It will present a variety of themes such as "Fortunate Year of Ink Painting", "Beautiful Year of Shanghai Style", "Creative Year of Imagination", "Poetic Year of Treasured Gems", "Time-honored Year of Tribute", and "Joyful Year of Reunion and Warmth". Through art, it will lead the audience to understand the magnificent artistic achievements of Shanghai masters, the profound heritage of Chinese calligraphy, and experience the millennium changes of Dunhuang art. With a strong festive atmosphere, it will accompany everyone to spend an extraordinary and artistic Spring Festival holiday.

In terms of exhibitions, the heavyweight exhibition "The Moon Over the Sea: Commemorating the 180th Anniversary of Wu Changshuo's Birth Art Exhibition" presents nearly 180 exquisite masterpieces with an exhibition area of over 1500 square meters. It focuses on the glorious 15 years from 1912 to 1927 when Wu Changshuo settled in Shanghai, making it the largest-scale Wu Changshuo art exhibition in recent years. The curation revolves around the "five major phenomena" of Wu Changshuo, with a unique perspective and rare exhibits. Since its release, it has received continuous praise from viewers and is hailed as a treasure exhibition that can satisfy the desire to appreciate the poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal carving of Wu Changshuo, worth visiting multiple times.

Another new exhibition, "Shaping the Waves," is also very exciting. With over 30 selected works, the exhibition showcases the tireless exploration of Shanghai's sculpture art since the 20th century. The works not only focus on shaping the character of the times, praising the spirit of Shanghai, and celebrating the good life of the people, but also invite young and active sculptors from Shanghai to participate, presenting a fresh and youthful expression in the exhibition, which is greatly loved by young audiences.

In addition, the "Starlight Clouds and Waters - Master Xingyun's Calligraphy Exhibition", which interprets the beauty of Chinese calligraphy, attracts audiences with its exhibition design that combines classical and technological elements, as well as the wise masterpieces. The "Facing Images - Xindongwang Painting Teaching and Research Exhibition" conveys heartfelt emotions that directly touch people's hearts through skilled painting techniques and care for the general public. Exhibitions such as "Dunhuang in My Heart" Painting Exhibition, "The Dimension of Images" - the 20th Horizon Painting and Sculpture Joint Exhibition, and "Contemporary Chinese Landscape Painting Research Exhibition in Xi'an in the Era" also provide audiences with various choices.

03. Limited edition delicious and exciting new arrivals, creative gifts to add bonus points to the New Year.

Spending New Year in an art gallery, besides captivating exhibitions and diverse art education activities, the China Art Palace (Shanghai Museum of Art) offers exclusive delicacies in the new "Moon Over the Sea" exhibition.

49-meter high New Spring Café is making its debut, offering creative beverages and desserts. Among them, the most eye-catching is the New Year limited edition "Fortune and Prosperity Immortal" special drink, inspired by Wu Changshuo's painting "Fortune and Prosperity Immortals". The frothy milk foam of the rich latte is topped with a "New Year God of Wealth" sugar paper, bringing good fortune and prosperity to your stomach with just one sip.

Inspired by Wu Changshuo's "Red Heart Painting," the New Year's sweet treats "Sugar Fulu" (Hawthorn Marshmallow Cake) and "Three Thousand Years of Peach" (Peach Cheesecake) add a touch of fiery sweetness to the Spring Festival, becoming the perfect choice for audiences to satisfy their taste buds. The Spring Festival naturally cannot do without delicious mouthwatering treats. Our museum also offers a variety of creative snacks and specialty drinks, such as "Awakening Lions and Picking Greens," "The Future is Astonishing," and "Abundant Gui Lotus Year," combining traditional sugar-coated haws with coffee, bringing a strong festive atmosphere to everyone.

The creative cultural and creative shops in the museum are full of surprises. The "New Year Flash Store" on the 0th floor is temporarily open, featuring a series of Spring Festival-themed cultural and creative products, including snake year paper model toys, art palace seal engraving mugs, traditional color notebooks, and Wu Hufan limited edition plum blossom lucky god spectrum notebooks. These Spring Festival goodies provide more choices for citizens and friends. In connection with the "Moon over the Sea" exhibition, our museum has created a variety of cultural and creative gifts, ranging from the "Buddha's Hand" travel set tea cup, "Fu Lu Shou" metal bookmarks, to the "Peach Never Leaves Your Palm" notebook, combining practicality and artistry, undoubtedly becoming the best partner for viewers' New Year gifts.

Under the strong promotion of the "Grand Art Museum Project" by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, art venues represented by the China Art Palace (Shanghai Museum of Art) continue to strengthen the attraction of top-level cultural and artistic exhibitions, optimize the supply of high-quality cultural tourism, and focus on enhancing the economic development of cultural tourism. "Visiting art museums to see art exhibitions" has become one of the "must-do" options for citizens and tourists during holidays. This year, the China Art Palace (Shanghai Museum of Art) has further enhanced the festive atmosphere of the museum, with a crossover integration of music and art, calligraphy and seal carving experiences, and cultural lectures, providing artistic nourishment for audiences of all ages. With the support of the "national, all-age, all-region, all-time" art education framework, citizens and tourists can feel the strong festive atmosphere in the "people's art museum".

Source: Enjoy Shanghai

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