Suzhou was the artistic center of China in the Ming period – 15 th to 16 th centuries – and most of the famous artists of the time were natives of Suzhou. The museum opened its galleries for painting and calligraphy with a special display of works by the so-called Four Ming Masters (all from Suzhou), combining the museum's own holdings with loans from the Shanghai Museum. The antiquities are mainly bronzes and jades from archaeological excavations of Neolithic (jades from ~2,500 B.C.) and Bronze Age sites (mainly bronzes and jades c.500 B.C.) around Suzhou.

As with traditional Suzhou architecture, the design of the art museum is organized around a series of gardens and courts that mediates between the building and its surrounding environment. Major components include 5,000 square meters of exhibition space, a 200-seat auditorium, administrative and curatorial areas, study library, museum shops, tea rooms and extensive art collection storage facilities. The main Museum Garden is a contemporary extension and commentary of the Garden of the Humble Administrator to the north. As visual connections between the two properties are not possible due to the high garden walls, water is used physically and metaphorically as a bridge between the two properties.