While the art community in China is very much familiar with Kapoor and has long been expecting such a show, he is little known among average Chinese, noted Lin Yong, a frequent visitor to the museum.

Kapoor was born in Mumbai to a Hindu father and a Jewish mother in 1954 and moved to London in the early 1970s to pursue art.

In the 1980s, his bright monochromatic geometric or biomorphic sculptures, usually taking simple, curved forms, soon took the European art world by storm.

At the 1990 Venice Biennale, he was chosen as the only artist to represent Britain, and only one year later he won the prestigious Turner Prize. Ever since, his colossal and often site-specific creations have been all the rage in the global art scene.

Hailing from a multicultural background, Kapoor believes strongly that art is global.

"'Globalized' means an art object has made a connection between what it is and what the viewer brings to the situation," the artist explained, looking forward to Chinese viewers' interactions with his artworks prior to his China solo. "In making my work, I like materials, images and objects that make these connections that grab viewers."