Opened in late August after more than a decade of design and construction, Tag Art Museum has been extremely popular with local residents and visitors, quickly becoming a calling card of the West Coast New Area in Qingdao, Shandong province.

Designed by famed French architect Jean Nouvel and located on the southern bank of Tangdao Bay, the museum includes a 17,000-square-meter main building, 12 interconnected exhibition halls built by the sea, as well as 80,000 square meters of outdoor gardens. 

The Tag Art Museum in Qingdao West Coast New Area [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

The site itself is a work of art, creating a tranquil and peaceful setting that immediately puts visitors in the mood to admire the stunning art inside.

Before entering the gallery, visitors will find a variety of spaces for relaxation and to eat, such as the spacious and classy Tag Bar or the peaceful Tag Café, which pairs excellent service with a beautiful outside area facing the wilderness, where visitors can enjoy a traditional afternoon tea complete with a three-tiered delicacies and a pot of Twinings tea.

The museum's opening exhibition Beyond is curated by Fan Di'an, president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and president of the China Artists Association, and Zhang Zikang, curator of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum. 

Running until Jan 6, 2022, it features works by 14 leading domestic and foreign contemporary artists like Alex Katz, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Liu Xiaodong, Song Dong, and Xu Bing.

Introduced by the touching words of Fan who notes that "under the severe situation of the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, to perceive the value of beyond from art is also a form of spiritual empathy," the exhibition includes a mix of artworks from the very abstract to the surprisingly realistic, covering a wide range of mediums from oil paintings to steel sculptures. Its versatility and sheer scale can provide visitors hours upon hours of exploration.

After a stroll through the musuem's many areas, visitors will arrive at the gift shop, which is filled with artistic memorabilia, gifts, and lots of toys for children to commemorate the experience. 

Once leaving the gallery, visitors will feel inspired, with the Tag Art Museum serving as both as an essential place for art enthusiasts, as well as a peaceful place for visitors to escape the business of the city and feel inspired by world-class art.

Address: 1111 Yinshatan Road, West Coast New Area, Qingdao