Shanghai Art Week Opens With Careful Buyers and Early Sales

Buyers at Shanghai's art week are being more selective, but early sales have been encouraging, according to The Art Newspaper. The report came as confidence in China's art market is subdued.

Two of the city's biggest art fairs opened that week. An art fair is a show where galleries, businesses that exhibit and sell artists' work, rent space and sell to visitors. West Bund Art & Design, now in its 13th edition, runs from 10 to 15 November 2026 and includes 85 galleries. They include Hauser & Wirth, Perrotin, Thaddaeus Ropac and White Cube. Art021, in its 14th edition, hosts 111 galleries at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre.

On West Bund's opening day, Thaddaeus Ropac sold Megan Rooney's That Sky (Atlas) (2026) for £400,000 to a Chinese foundation. A foundation is a non-profit organisation that holds and buys art. The gallery also sold a Martha Jungwirth painting for €200,000 and a Robert Longo work for $90,000 at the same fair. The reported prices are the sale amounts.

Robert Hsu put the mood in a single line. "Even though the Chinese market is at an all-time low, Shanghai is still a vibrant international city with many art institutions."

Art021 also announced a new acquisition initiative with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the LACMA museum in the United States. An acquisition is when a museum adds a work to its permanent collection. The scheme is supported by Chinese collectors and aims to bring works by Asian and Asian diaspora artists, meaning artists of Asian heritage who live abroad, into LACMA's collection.

Hang Over, a popup fair, is also running. A popup fair is a short-lived event in a temporary space. Now in its second year, it runs from 11 to 15 November 2026 with 18 galleries, including Misako & Rosen, Cylinder, Antenna Space, Vanguard and Linseed.

For anyone planning a visit, the main fairs close on 15 November.