Shanghai Now Host to China’s Largest Private Museum

The Long Museum in the Pudong district of Shanghai opened its second branch on Friday, the Art Newspaper reports. The West Bund outpost and the original Long Museum were both founded by collectors Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei. The museum is located in the continually expanding Xuhui Riverside development and hosts a collection of mostly modernist Chinese art well as some classical Chinese and Western art.

The 33,000 square meter building took just over a year to complete. With 16,000 square meters of exhibition space, it is now the largest private museum in China. “My wife’s balls are bigger than mine—to get this done on time is a victory,” Liu said at a press conference before the opening.

The Long Museum West Bund opens with “Re-View”, a show which focuses on the thematic conversation between Western and Eastern art. Curators Wang Huangsheng, Cao Qinghui and Guo Xiaoyan teamed up for the exhibition. Going forward, both branches of the museum plan on hosting four shows a year.