Privately-owned Art Museum in Hong Kong with Free Access!

The Sun Museum is a non-profit making institution located in Kwun Tong, which aims to promote appreciation of Chinese art and culture since 2015.

The Sun Museum renews their displays and exhibitions regularly. Recently in December, the main exhibition is about 20th-Century Chinese paintings about animals. It features nearly 40 paintings by 10 famous Chinese painters of the 20th century including Xu Beihong and Jao Tsung I.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, exchanges between the East and the West became more frequent and art from both regions influenced each other. Chinese painters used their creativity to seek breakthroughs from traditional techniques, reinventing animal-themed ink paintings with distinctive styles and a refreshing visual experience. With the rise of realism, the sense of three-dimensionality became a key element in ink paintings. Besides breakthroughs in techniques, Chinese painters also adopted colour palette common in Western paintings to their work, making their ink paintings more vibrant. Therefore, the paintings displayed in the exhibition are definitely masterpieces by the pioneers in Chinese traditional art.

The other exhibition is about Old Hong Kong Cinemas displaying photos of old Hong Kong theatres since the late 19th Century. I was surprised that early theatre buildings were inspired by opera houses in the West, and successive ones were built in the Art Deco style during the 1920s and 1930s. Note that the theatres at that time were used to stage both Cantonese opera and movies. I would feel classy if I had a chance to visit those cinemas. However, most of them do not exist in modern era anymore.

Do not forget to visit Sun Garden. An area where you can take a break and relax. Sun Museum is free access. You can visit Kwun Tong Promenade before or after the visit of the museum.

Address: 4/F, SML Tower, 165 Hoi Bun Rd, Kwun Tong