National Palace Museum Exhibition Area II — Attraction in Shilin District

We came to see the European paintings on loan from NYC’s The Met. This was our first visit to the National Museum since 1999, and it brought back some memories. I was a bit disappointed to see only one piece from Van Gough. We’ve previously seen many Van Gough’s works all over the world (including on several occasions at The Met and the Van Gough Museum), but it would’ve been nice if locals here have a chance to experience Van Gough close up.

The collection was very small with mainly French artists with Van Gough being the only Dutch artists plus a couple of American artists. The exhibit hall was very small and had way too many people in such a small venue. One tiny painting was the best piece there in my humble opinion: A Study on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, which I never knew it existed. It was so tiny that I barely could see it from behind a constant stream of art patrons. It apparently was a precursor to the actual A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, my personal favorite at the Art Institute in Chicago.

Helpful pointer: instead of walking up to the Museum from street level, take an Uber (or a cab) from the Shilin MRT Station to avoid walking under the blistering sun. The ride either way was...

Fabulous Museum!! They have the famous cabbage. Lots of one of a kind works of art. Can easily spend a whole day here to explore the whole museum and surrounding area.

Make sure to bring good walking shoes as there is a lot of walking here. We came here by bus and it was very convenient to get here as there is a bus stop in front of the museum.

I would call this a must visit if...

PACKED on the weekend. You can’t even see the exhibition because there are too many people going inside to take a photo of the art. I really recommend better crowd control because those who actually like art cannot...