Hong Kong Paints the Town in a Global Celebration of Art and Culture

Arts in Hong Kong, an unparalleled citywide celebration, was bookended by Picasso at M+ and Art Basel

In March, Hong Kong transformed into a living gallery as Arts in Hong Kong turned the city into a cultural epicenter, alive with blockbuster exhibitions and a creative rhythm that echoed through galleries and museums, art houses and the city’s streets. The month-long celebration reaffirmed Hong Kong’s role as Asia’s definitive arts hub—building to a crescendo with the 12^th edition of Art Basel Hong Kong.

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Art Basel Hong Kong included 240 galleries from 42 countries and territories, all presenting at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Photo Credit: Hong Kong Tourism Board.

A City in Season

From museums and galleries to street art, Hong Kong’s creative calendar unfolded across neighborhoods and institutions—anchored by landmark exhibitions, art auctions, and a renewed sense of cultural momentum. At M+, Picasso for Asia – A Conversation opened to wide acclaim, bringing together more than 60 works by Pablo Picasso with over 80 contemporary responses from Asian and Asian-diasporic artists. Rather than positioning Picasso as a solitary figure, the exhibition invited dialogue—cross-cultural, cross-generational, and deeply grounded in place.

Nearby, the Hong Kong Museum of Art welcomed Cézanne and Renoir: Looking at the World, the city’s first major showcase of the French Impressionists. Featuring 52 masterpieces on loan from Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie and Musée d’Orsay, the exhibition offered a rare encounter with the work of two masters whose quiet revolutions helped shape modern art. In neighborhoods across the Central and Western Districts, HKWALLS returned for its 10th anniversary, with both international and local artists transforming walls into vivid points of connection. Murals scaled residential towers. Digital works lit up LED screens. And through workshops, screenings, and pop-ups, street art was treated not as the backdrop, but as the headline.

Art Central celebrated its 10th edition with a dynamic mix of returning names and rising stars. The Legend sector spotlighted pioneering artists from across the Asia-Pacific, while Neo introduced new galleries and experimental work that signaled where the region’s creative future is headed. Inside a live art studio co-presented with the Hong Kong Tourism Board, artists from Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area created on-the-spot works in real time.

The Finale: Art Basel Hong Kong

March reached its peak with the annual Art Basel Hong Kong taking place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Across five days the fair brought 240 galleries from 42 countries and territories, presenting a sweeping cross-section of modern and contemporary art. Works by blue-chip icons appeared alongside debut presentations from emerging voices, offering a dialogue between legacy and experimentation that felt both ambitious and deeply rooted in place.

Demonstrating a unified commitment to the prominence of the Asian market, this year’s Arts in Hong Kong marked a historic moment as the world’s most prestigious auction houses—Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams, and Phillips—held their main auctions in their now-established Asia-Pacific headquarters, coinciding with Art Basel. In 2024, Hong Kong solidified its status as a stronghold for these houses, with substantial investments reinforcing its position as a luxury arts epicenter. In July, Sotheby’s unveiled its new Maison in Landmark Chater, following Christie’s expansion last September into three floors of the iconic Landmark Building nearby. Bonhams, which has maintained a Hong Kong headquarters since 2014, upgraded to a larger, more dynamic space in Six Pacific Place, while Phillips has occupied a 52,000-square-foot location adjacent to M+ Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District since 2023. Together, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Bonhams concluded the week with combined sales totaling over $154.4 million.

Hong Kong’s M+ made a notable acquisition, purchasing Yibei Zhang’s hanging sculpture There is everything in our bonfire (2024) from the young Shanghai-based gallery Bank. The auction houses also saw record-breaking sales, including a Zhang Xiaogang portrait that fetched over $6 million at Sotheby’s and a landmark $4 million sale at Christie’s for Hong Kong’s own Firenze Lai, further cementing her status as one of the region’s most compelling artistic voices.

Notable and New

The latest outdoor installation at M+, Night Charades by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen, has become a huge hit with attendees and locals alike. The AI-generated video piece pays homage to the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, crafting an endless flow of characters and gestures that echo the iconic styles of directors like Wong Kar-wai, John Woo and Stephen Chow. Ho’s solo exhibition, Three Stories: Monsters, Opium, Time, is also on view at Kiang Malingue gallery through May 13.

An area emerging as an up-and-coming art scene, Wong Chuk Hang has several international galleries nearby, including David Zwirner, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, White Cube and De Sarthe, where the famous Mak2 started showcasing her creations in 2019. Now, more than 200 pieces have been sold by the gallery and her latest work was highlighted at the De Sarthe booth at Art Basel Hong Kong last month.

From multi-million-dollar sculptures to street art interventions, this past March reaffirmed what the art world already knew: creativity is thriving in every corner of Hong Kong.

Art moves fast. Catch up at DiscoverHongKong.com.

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