The top art exhibitions and shows in Hong Kong this month

Sadly, this is not a full-fledged exhibition featuring the legendary Zao Wou-ki, but it is a special occasion nonetheless. One of the artist’s ‘Hurricane Period’ masterpieces, created   during the early 1960s as he rose to global fame, is heading to auction at Christie’s, and visitors can see it during the public previews for a limited time only. 

17.3.63 is notable for its vibrant, incandescent colour, and is one of only 19 bright red large-scale paintings to be completed by the artist in the 1960s. Expressive, powerful brushstrokes are the leading feature of this vertical composition, masterfully balancing light and shadow to exude passion and confidence. It’s the first time the piece has appeared at auction, so once it sells and goes into a private collection, it may not be seen again in public for a long time. Here’s your chance to lay eyes on it.

Art lovers are in for a treat this month as Christie’s Asia Pacific gears up for its Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Autumn Auctions, where an exceptional collection featuring the biggest names in modern and contemporary art has been lined up. Answering to the growing demand for artworks by masters and visionaries, the sales are headlined by Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme, Zao Wou-ki’s 17.3.63, Yoshitomo Nara’s Mumps, David Hockey’s Table with Conversation, Yayoi Kusama’s PUMPKIN [TWAQN], Claude Monet’s Printemps à Giverny, effet d’aprés-midi, J.M.W. Turner’s The Grand Bridge at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and many more, showcasing diverse artistic movements.

Head to Sotheby’s Maison in Landmark Chater for a limited-time exhibition examining the complex and enduring interplay between desire and death – fundamental forces shaping the human experience. Inspired by the works of French philosopher Georges Bataille, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ combines mythology, art history, and psychoanalysis to uncover how artists have navigated the tension between ecstasy and dissolution across centuries. Curated with a memento mori message in mind, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ encourages viewers to reflect on the feelings of desire and death, and the contradictions that define existence.

The expansive, LED canvas of M+ façade is now showing a brand-new series of work that highlights Hong Kong in all its magical, intimate, neon-drenched, lively moments. Named HK:PM, this commissioned art piece is by internationally acclaimed photographer Greg Girard, whose personal analogue photos, shot in Hong Kong between the 70s and 90s, have been animated to show the beauty and complexity of our city’s dense urban fabric in cinematic fashion. 

Some of the scenes captured include rare images of the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City; workers and fashionable citizens going about their daily hustle in Central; airplanes flying over the dense city blocks near the old Kai Tak Airport; neon-lit streets; revellers making the city come alive at night; and also some celebrity moments. Catch Hong Kong’s photographic memories and stories shown on the M+ façade every night from now until September 28. 

This summer, Tai Kwun is running a special exhibition that explores the cinematic trope of the undercover agent, the duality of light and darkness in these movie characters, and what makes them so appealing to Hong Kong audiences. If you’re a film buff or a fan of the heroic bloodshed genre, you’ll enjoy walking through recreations of scenes from classic crime films, showing the process of covert operations from beginning undercover missions to eventually finding difficulties in re-entering society. 

We won’t spoil too much, but look out for the iconic tea house shoot out in Hard Boiled, the psychiatrist’s office in Infernal Affairs, a gun fight in a hideout in City on Fire, and most dramatically, a disastrous car chase breaking the fourth wall, where visitors can either play a role on set or pose from the director’s chair behind the camera.

See more details on this special exhibition here.

The latest special exhibition at M+ showcases Cantonese art in the 20th century, highlighting this period’s significance in visual and artistic modernism within China and beyond. The port cities of Guangzhou and Hong Kong were the centres for radical new ways of thinking about art and its purpose during China’s modern revolution. Cantonese artists moved on from the classical ink paintings to create prints, photography, and even cartoons that were more accessible to all. After the founding of the PRC, Guangdong artists in mainland China used art to shape their national image through social realism and propaganda, while Hong Kong artists embraced international movements.

Explore over 200 works from institutional and private collections, many of which are on public display for the first time, and see the connections and disconnections between the two groups of Cantonese artists before and after 1949. From now until July 13, tickets to access all of M+’s special exhibitions run for $240, but starting July 15, all entry to the museum will be under a single-price ticket at $190.

As the first comprehensive exhibition in Hong Kong to showcase the artistic and cultural exchange between Islamic and Chinese peoples, the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) has chosen to focus the show on the achievements of Safavid Iran, Mughal India, and Ottoman Türkiye. In collaboration with the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, there will be approximately 100 pieces on display, including carpets, ceramics, metalwork, manuscripts, and jades, accompanied by artefacts from the Palace Museum and HKPM. Keep an eye out for the Kevorkian Hyderabad carpet, one of the longest Islamic carpets in a museum collection at almost 16 metres. ‘Wonders of Imperial Carpets’ will run from June 18 to October 6, and tickets cost $150.

M+ is hosting this adaptation of Trevor Yeung’s solo show that represented our city at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Drawing inspiration from his surroundings that include pet shops, seafood restaurants, public fountains, feng shui arrangements, and more, Yeung examines the relationship between humans and aquatic systems. See pet fish shops and filtration systems that are abandoned and devoid of aquatic life, and a defunct fountain in a European courtyard. The exhibition runs from June 14 to October 12, and entry is $120.

White Cube Hong Kong is staging an exhibition showcasing the works of the seminal Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. ‘A Feeling’ revolves around the pieces Noguchi created after meeting and studying under Chinese master ink painter Qi Baishi, exploring how the teachings influenced his later sculptural approach. 

A selection of Noguchi’s abstract ‘Peking Brush Drawings’ and complex bronze sculptures are displayed alongside Qi’s scrolls in this exhibition, creating a narrative between the two artists. Noguchi’s work pushes the boundaries of sculptural positive and negative space, testing the boundaries of three dimensions, but his use of bronze as a medium reflects his desire to blend ancient and modern.

New York-based curator and scholar Jie Xia has curated a collection of works from leading post-war and contemporary artists for Ben Brown Fine Arts. Invoking the heat and sultry haze of summer, this exhibition explores travel and the rituals of seasonal escape paired with nostalgia and longing. See pieces from a diverse group of global artists including Miquel Barceló, José Parlá, Ena Swansea, Nabil Nahas, Enoc Perez, Tseng Kwong Chi, Vik Muniz, Gerhard Richter, Hilary Pecis and Milton Avery. Through paint, photography, and collages, this exhibition looks at how we construct and consume the idea of paradise, and what we hope to find when we get there.

Witness Hong Kong through a quirky lens at Cordis, Hong Kong’s new ‘Art in Residence’ exhibition, featuring a series of surreal digital art pieces created by Tommy Fung where our city’s iconic landmarks and cultural touchpoints are juxtaposed against humorously impossible scenarios. Fung is known for his whimsical, Photoshop-manipulated images – from transforming the Hong Kong Space Museum into a giant Chiikawa head and inserting a snacking panda into a wet market stall narrative, to creating a Tesla Cybertruck version of the iconic Hong Kong red taxi, nothing’s off limits for the Hong Kong artist. ‘SurrealHK: The City Reimagined’ is part of Cordis, Hong Kong’s 10th anniversary celebrations, so mark the occasion with the hotel while taking in some fun art.

This latest exhibition in the M+ Open Gallery examines the process of making things as a creative expression, and how this has a lasting impact on individuals, communities, and our ecosystems. Drawing from the works of the M+ Collections, visitors are invited into the inspirations and techniques behind the processing of conceptualising, research, design, and fabrication that go into the objects and architecture we see around us. Split into four sections, it covers the broad themes of ceramics with its layered history; innovative uses of materials like neon, resin, and bamboo, including a restored Hong Kong neon sign; how computing, machine learning, and AI have impacted the making process; and the effects of consumerism and mass production on contemporary society. Tickets for ‘Making It Matters’ cost $120, and allow same-day entry to the other paid exhibitions in M+.

Christie’s Asia Pacific is commemorating the first anniversary of its new Henderson headquarters with a slew of autumn auctions, among them a sale highlighting Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art as part of the launch of this new department. Leading the event is a rare, newly reattributed figure of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion – an exquisite gilded copper alloy sculpture that is emblematic of a new art style that rose to prominence during the 13th-century Yuan court under the purview of Aniko, the renowned Nepalese artist. Other notable pieces include the figure of Manjushri and a rare thangka attributed to the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje, depicting parinirvana. Now’s your chance to see these masterpieces before they head into private collections.

Urban sketch artist Rob Sketcherman is bringing his unique perspective of Hong Kong’s everyday scenes to the W Hong Kong! From nostalgic pictures of stilt houses in Tai O to depicting the energetic Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance and evening views of the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, Sketcherman’s lively art captures the dynamic spirit of the city through detail-oriented, colourful illustrations.

What’s special about this exhibition is that there will be five screens in the hotel lobby showcasing Sketcherman’s artistic process through time-lapse recordings of his drawings, so visitors will not only see his finished pieces, but also all the thinking behind the sketches and the work that went into them.

De Sarthe is inaugurating its new gallery space in the Southside with a new solo exhibition featuring contemporary Hong Kong artist Lazarus Chan. ‘Poetics Policy’ is an immersive journey that investigates the influence of policy-making on art, reality, and machine intelligence through multimedia and interactive artworks. Adding a dystopian touch, the exhibition features an AI-built living system as an imagined simulation of the future, which is governed by the artist, but used to emphasise that the essence of art is found in the policies guiding its creation, rather than in the generated texts or imagery.

As part of the celebration surrounding its new gallery space in the Southside, De Sarthe is launching two exhibitions concurrently. ‘20th Century Narratives – In Conversation’, the gallery’s second show, presents a curated collection of post-war and modern paintings and sculptures, featuring the likes of Yayoi Kusuma, Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Chu Teh-chun, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Jack Tworkov, Bernar Venet, and Zao Wou-ki as they are brought together to represent a transcontinental artistic exchange.

Set amidst the greenery and historical landmarks of the Asia Society Hong Kong Center are Lee Kuang-Yu’s sculptures that are inspired by Eastern philosophy and natural aesthetics. Using his distinct ‘open void’ sculptures, Lee’s cubist- and surrealist-inspired pieces blend into the environment seamlessly. These nine sculptures make up his first large-scale solo show in Hong Kong, where his works are complemented by modern architecture and our city’s lush nature.

This public art commission by Alicja Kwade is the Polish artist’s first site-specific installation in Hong Kong, and is available for viewing at Tai Kwun until 2026. Historically and socially contextualised objects make references to Tai Kwun history while exploring the passage of time and the present.

Six glass structures stand in conjunction with eight bronze cast Monobloc chairs that are each positioned dynamically with a boulder. Drawing on the history of Tai Kwun’s Prison Yard as a place of waiting and confinement, Kwade’s art reflects on the burdens that we carry, and the idea of waiting as a form of punishment in contemporary times, with glass structures representing invisible barriers in our lives.

Tai Kwun Contemporary is presenting a two-part exhibition under the theme ‘Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008’. Centred around an expansive exploration of the transformations and social shifts within 21st-century China brought about by the prolific spread of the internet and digital technologies, the first chapter will take over all three floors of the JC Contemporary art spaces, running for a little over three months.

‘Stay Connected: Navigating the Cloud’ will present more than 50 pieces mapping the creative pursuits of over 35 artists and groups whose practices are influenced by social media, the internet, and digital technologies. Divided into themed segments such as artificial intelligence, information bubbles, online communities, and more, the showcase explores how to ‘stay connected’ in today’s world. Li Shuang, Li Yi-fan, Miao Ying, Wong Ping, Lu Yang, Shao Chun, Zhang Yibei, and the Xijing Men collective are among the many artists exhibiting. Collaborative duo Sun Yuan & Peng Yu – whose claim to fame is the Can’t Help Myself kinetic sculpture with a robotic arm – is also participating.

A new exhibition at M+ showcases 12 immersive installations by pioneering women artists from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including three new works by Asian artists. Dream Rooms: Environments by Women Artists 1950s–Now emphasises the multisensory experience of art and highlights women’s contributions to installation art, a field often overshadowed by male artists. Visitors can actively engage with the environments, which include nine historic pieces that have been painstakingly reconstructed, such as Aleksandra Kasuba’s Spectral Passage (1975), which invites individuals to journey through interconnected nylon structures as a metaphor of the life cycle; Judy Chicago’s Feather Room (1966), an all-white space filled with 300 pounds of feathers; and more.

M+ will also host talks with co-curators Andrea Lissoni and Marina Pugliese to discuss the concept behind the exhibition, and a panel discussion with the three Asian artists whose new, commissioned work is part of Dream Rooms. Additionally, M+ Cinema will screen three documentaries about some of the exhibited artists to supplement the show.

This exhibition is interesting in that instead of highlighting art, it is a look at the martial culture of the Qing court through weaponry, military equipment, scientific instruments, and more. Nearly 190 military artefacts are on loan from The Palace Museum in Beijing, including helmets, archery sets, swords and sabres, and equestrian gear, along with paintings, textiles, and books. ‘The Art of Armaments’ highlights the Manchu rulers’ emphasis on martial traditions, continually improving their weapon-making techniques, and their dedication to hunting and drills – these set the foundation for military rituals in China as well as the development of their fleets and coastal defence. 

Look out for treasures such as a Qianlong-era replica of a helmet used by Nurhaci, the Jurchen khan emperor of the Later Jin dynasty, or the sabre gifted to Prince Gong by the Daoguang Emperor. Since there are so many artefacts, the exhibition will be presented in four rotations, each lasting about three months. Visitors can access this exhibition with a general admission ticket (priced from $70 to $90), or any special exhibition ticket (ranging from $150 to $180).

M+ Museum’s new thematic exhibition aims to explore the connection between landscape and humanity in our post-industrial and increasingly virtual world. Literally translating to ‘mountain and water’, shanshui is a Chinese cultural concept that has inspired Asian ink paintings across millennia. Almost 130 works split into nine thematic sections will reimagine landscape through art, moving images, sound, design, architecture, and other large-scale mediums from a range of international artists, architects, and creators.

Head to the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) to find our city’s first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Mughal art. The Mughal empire was one of the world’s most powerful kingdoms that encompassed much of modern-day Indian, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, ruling from the 16th to the 17th centuries. Though they ruled a mainly Hindu population, the Mughals were Muslim with Mongol origins, and were known for their rich culture and architecture – the Taj Mahal is one such legacy from this empire.

Over 100 artefacts from the golden age of the Mughal dynasty, from paintings and jewellery to weaponry, architectural segments, and even some rare surviving textiles from this period are now on show – Hong Kong is this exhibition’s only Asia venue after its London premiere in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Under the rule of three emperors, the Mughal court greatly fostered artistic development and embraced cross-cultural influences, shown here in jade pieces that have incorporated motifs from the Chinese court. Highlights include a casket with mother-of-pearl inlays, a thumb ring from Emperor Akbar’s reign with western enamelling that shows the Mughal court’s hybrid aesthetic, and a beautiful dagger sheath and hilt lavishly decorated with gold and red gemstones.

‘Treasures of the Mughal Court’ runs until February 23, 2026, and tickets are priced from $150 which also grants access to HKPM’s thematic exhibitions in galleries one to seven.

A good dose of laughter is a great remedy for the stressors of hectic urban life, which is why comedic comics have been so well-received since they appeared in Hong Kong in the early 20th century. By the 1950s, local comics truly began to take off, giving rise to iconic characters like Old Master Q, My Boy, and Sau Sing Chai. Visitors can see beloved comic works spanning from the 50s to modern-day characters used in our everyday group chat stickers.