National Gallery Singapore is bringing Cultural Medallion recipient Lim Tze Peng’s art to China. “Lim Tze Peng: A Singapore Story in Ink” (《墨韵星洲: 新加坡艺术家林子平特展》) opened on Friday (6 November) evening at Shanghai Art Museum (China Art Palace) and runs until 7 April 2027, before touring Shenzhen Art Museum and Fujian Art Museum.
Curated by National Gallery Singapore, the exhibition is being presented in Shanghai for the first time. It marks another major milestone in the gallery’s efforts to bring Singapore art to an international audience, following the 2025 exhibition Georgette Chen: At Home in the World (《张荔英：此心安处》) at the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen, China. It further strengthens the gallery’s position as a leading institution for modern and contemporary visual arts from Singapore and Southeast Asia.
In 2009, the Singapore Art Museum brought an exhibition of Lim’s art to the Liu Haisu Art Museum in Shanghai and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
Dr Eugene Tan, CEO and Director of National Gallery Singapore, said at the opening ceremony that Shanghai had deep connections with Lim Tze Peng (1921–2025). Bringing Lim’s art back to the city was an important outcome of the collaboration between Shanghai Art Museum and National Gallery Singapore. He hoped the partnership would foster deeper cultural exchanges, strengthen ties between the two institutions and add a new chapter to the longstanding friendship between Singapore and China. The exhibition also offers Shanghai audiences an opportunity to discover an artist whose life and work resonate across oceans.
Tan said: “A Singapore Story in Ink may foreground Lim’s profound engagement with Singapore across more than eight decades of his artistic practice, capturing the transformation and rhythms of everyday life with remarkable sensibility. Yet this story is also part of a larger narrative that connects Singapore and China, and to the wider Chinese-speaking communities. Lim worked with Chinese ink and calligraphy, traditions that we share with China, using them to depict distinctly Singaporean scenes, reflecting our multicultural diversity.”
He noted that Lim’s generation was shaped by multiple traditions and ideas, reflecting the rich cultural currents that flowed into Singapore from around the world. This confluence of cultures ran through his artistic practice. The exhibition gives the Shanghai public an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of this tireless artist, whose curiosity and passion for art never waned.
Shanghai Art Museum: Lim Tze Peng reimagined ink art
The Lim Tze Peng exhibition is part of Shanghai Art Museum’s series of international collaborative projects marking its 70th anniversary. It marks the first collaboration between the two museums. Wang Yichuan, Executive Director from Shanghai Art Museum, said: “As part of our 70th anniversary series of international collaborative projects, the Shanghai Art Museum is delighted to co-present Lim Tze Peng: A Singapore Story in Ink with National Gallery Singapore. Lim Tze Peng was a self-taught pioneer whose practice bridged Chinese traditions and his lived experiences in Southeast Asia to reimagine ink. Bringing his life’s work across borders to our museum in Shanghai opens valuable space to revisit how traditional ink painting is reinvented and continues to endure over time.”
Building on National Gallery Singapore’s 2024 exhibition “Becoming Lim Tze Peng” (《林子平：我画故我在》), this exhibition has been expanded through collaboration with Shanghai Art Museum to feature 29 new exhibits, accounting for half the works on display. It brings together key works from Singapore’s National Collection, including recent acquisitions, with works held by public institutions and artists in China, aiming to deepen research into modern ink art in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Lim Tze Peng’s eldest son, Lim Su Kok, said: “One of my father’s greatest wishes was to exhibit in Shanghai. This exhibition fulfils that wish, and our whole family feels deeply gratified and honoured. Although my father cannot witness it himself, having his art exhibited in Shanghai is the finest testament to his lifelong pursuit.”
During his lifetime, Lim was Singapore’s oldest practising artist. His continual experimentation with ink painting and calligraphy, and his skilful blending of age-old techniques with contemporary meaning, gave him a unique place in Singapore’s art history.
