Situated on the site of former Zhongyuan Library and east to the Zhenhai Tower on the Yuexiu Mountain, the Guangzhou Art Gallery was set up in February 1957. Its predecessor is the Guangzhou Art Museum. Covering a total construction area of 2,241 square meters, its main architecture is a gray-brick and green-tiled palace patterned after the Wenhua Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The gallery collects over 7,000 masterpieces of the period from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), mostly painted by renowned Guangdong painters, includingBambooby Wen Tong of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127),Stream and Hillscroll by Huang Gongwang of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), free style calligraphy of Chen Xianzhang of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) andAutumn Eaglescroll by Gao Jianfu.

Publications includeCollection of Paintings in the Guangzhou Art Gallery,Calligraphy of Guangdong Arts in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, andPaintings of Ming and Qing Dynasties Collected in the Gallery.