The Beijing Art Museum is located in Wanshou Temple, the Temple of Longevity, an ancient temple in the Ming and Qing Dynasties . Wanshou Temple was erected during the reign of the Ming Dynasty Emperor Wanli, to store Buddhist scriptures in Chinese. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was enlarged by several emperors and finally evolved into a combination of temple, temporary imperial palace and garden. The temple occupies 50 mu, and was where birthday celebrations for the imperial family were celebrated.

The Beijing Art Museum was founded in 1985 and houses nearly 50,000 ancient art works of various kinds, dating from the primitive society to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Ming and Qing dynasty artifacts present a magnificent view. The collected items in the museum are of a broad range, including calligraphic works, paintings, rubbings from stone inscriptions, royal court embroideries, carved chinaware, ancient furniture, ancient coins and imperial jade seals. There are bronze ware, jade, ceramics, ivory, Buddhist sculptures, snuff bottles and so on.

Some art work from abroad and works from some other great Chinese artists, such as Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian and Xu Beihong, complement the collection.

The Art Museum houses seven regular exhibits: History of the Development of Wanshou Temple, the Art of Seal Carving, the Art of Buddhism, Arts and Crafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Best of Beijing Historical Relics, Art of Paintings, and Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.