Located in the center of Singapore’s arts district
by Boat Quay, the new National Gallery, opened
in November 2015, occupies two historic
buildings: the former Supreme Court and the City
Hall, built in 1937 and 1929, respectively. The
museum’s collection boasts more than 8,000
works of Southeast Asian art from the 19th
century to today. Their permanent collections,
“Siapa Nama Kamu?” (which means “What is
y o u r n ame ? ” i n Ba h a s a ) a n d “Be t we e n
Declarations and Dreams” include the works of
artists such as Liu Kang and Cheong Soo Pieng,
who pioneered the Nanyang Style in paintings in
the 1950s — idyllic visions of a tropical paradise
seen through the eyes of Chinese immigrants.
St. Andrews Road, Singapore 178957. Open 10am-7pm
Sundays to Thursdays, 10am-10pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Admission is SG$20.
(
71 Bras Basah Road, Singapore 189555. Open 10am-
7pm daily, Fridays until 9pm. Admission is SG$10, free entry
on Fridays, 6pm-9pm.
NATIONAL GALLERY
SINGAPORE
01
A couple of minutes’ walk from NGS is the
Singapore Art Museum. Housed in a restored
19th-century Catholic mission school, the
museum has been showcasing the finest in
contemporary Southeast Asian art since 1996.
Past exhibitions include installations by young
artists, such as Indonesian artist Mulyana’s coral
reefs made out of knitted yarn and Singaporean
artist Donna Ong’s collection of antique furniture
and found objects arranged in such a way as to
make viewers rethink history. SAM is also
organizing this year’s Singapore Biennale, “An
Atlas of Mirrors,” which opens in October.
SINGAPORE ART
MUSEUM
02
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES / NATIONAL GALLERY SINGAPORE / SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM
27
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