The Private Museum is pleased to present Shadows, Signals, and the Line: Abstract Expressionism in Singapore. The exhibition explores the development of abstraction in Singapore, bringing together works by sixteen Singaporean artists working in that visual language, and chronicling their responses to the cultural and material conditions of a rapidly modernising nation.
The exhibition title recognises abstraction not as a fixed style, but a negotiation between influence and invention, clarity and ambiguity. As a sensibility grounded in subtlety, tactility, and the quiet resonance of form, the line becomes both gesture and structure, and shadow sharpens perception.
Emerging in the 1970s and 80s, abstraction in Singapore developed in dialogue with both regional legacies and international movements. Building on the foundations of the Nanyang school, artists moved beyond representation to explore form, gesture, and material as primary carriers of meaning, engaging global influences while reconfiguring them within local contexts.
Through works informed by calligraphic gesture, geometric discipline, and material sensitivity, the exhibition highlights the diverse approaches that have shaped abstraction in Singapore. It invites viewers to consider how abstraction is inseparable from cultural thinking and lived experience—where form carries memory, and meaning unfolds through the act of looking.
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The exhibition will run from 29 May to 23 August 2026.
In conjunction with Singapore Art Week 2026, The Private Museum is pleased to present Human Being Human: Selections from the Collection of John and Cheryl Chia. Kickstarting The Private Museum’s 2026 programming, this exhibition invites contemplation on the human experience.
The exhibition title, Human Being Human, frames this contemplation as a moment of possibility: our lives are continually defined by the search for identity, the quiet, persistent aspiration for fundamental purity and goodness, even as we navigate a world characterised by upheaval. This exploration is filtered through works that focus on the human body, or the inescapable bodily experience, recognising it as the most immediate and vulnerable site of our existence.
Drawn from the private collection of John and Cheryl Chia, this collector showcase offers a contemplation of the human condition—the singular, inescapable journey shared by all. The exhibition attempts to contextualise this journey through four conceptual chapters, broadly capturing the sub-themes of Stateless, State, Statehood, and Rebirth, thereby analysing the collection of artworks that traces the human trajectory toward identity.
John and Cheryl Chia acquired their inaugural pieces of artwork approximately 25 years ago, while serving as medical officers. What began as an initial, inquisitive engagement swiftly evolved into a profound passion for learning about and interacting with art. Over the ensuing decades, this dedication has culminated in a compelling collection of works that they find both intellectually stimulating and culturally resonant.
As Cheryl Chia aptly states: “We are drawn to art that reflects our times, that reflects our experiences…(Art) it is an extension of our experiences, our thoughts, our ideas. It comes from somebody else, but it makes up the world that we live in. And we live in the here and now…”, inspiring audiences to explore how art can illuminate the complexities of contemporary existence.
The exhibition will run from 19 January to 26 April 2026.
Marking Singapore’s 60th year of independence, The Private Museum closes its year with a landmark exhibition bringing together 60 Singaporean and Singapore-based artists in a profound reflection of the Singapore spirit, in conjunction with Singapore’s 60th year of independence. The title draws from the closing words of the National Pledge, written in 1966 to unite a young and diverse nation. In this exhibition, “happiness, prosperity, and progress” are not fixed destinations but open questions. What do these words mean in 2025, and how do they resonate in our daily lives?
Shaped by a myriad of curatorial perspectives by six curators, the exhibition unfolds as a set of artistic conversations. Some works reflect on belonging, care, and vulnerability; others explore histories, stories, and names that shape how we understand ourselves. Everyday culture, sightseeing, humour, and local codes appear alongside more universal expressions of identity and memory. Themes of loss and reconnection surface too, asking what it takes to feel present again. Elsewhere, ideas of home, virtue, and lived experience open space for multiple ways of being Singaporean.
Together, these works do not define the Singapore Spirit but trace its many expressions. They suggest that happiness, prosperity, and progress are not endpoints, but ongoing practices revisited across generations, renewed through art, and shared by all who call Singapore home.
Towards Happiness, Prosperity & Progress: Reflections on the Singapore Spirit is the final instalment of The Private Museum’s 2025 programming—offering a fitting closure to a year of artistic and cultural exploration.
The exhibition will run from 2 October to 7 December 2025.
The Private Museum presents an exhibition which showcases the Catholic High School’s special collection of paintings by the late local artist, Chua Ek Kay, who is an old boy of the school. He is known for his combination of both Eastern and Western art techniques and theories in his works. A special selection from the Catholic High School will be featured in this exhibition with subject matters ranging from traditional Chinese paintings of birds and flowers, to old buildings and abstractions which reflects the evolution of Ek Kay’s artistic practice. The highlight of this exhibition will be the display of four Chinese ink paintings of the former Catholic High School campus at 222 Queens Street, now 51 Waterloo Street. Coincidentally, this is where The Private Museum is currently located. Ek Kay painted these works in 2005 with the sole purpose of donating them to the school and its new campus in Bishan. Ek Kay donated more works to the school subsequently, totaling to an impressive number of twenty-five Chinese ink paintings.
In celebration of Singapore’s 54th year of independence, The Private Museum (TPM) Singapore is pleased to present Flashes of Brilliance: Selected Works of Chen Wen Hsi from the Collections of Johnny Quek and the Lewis Sisters. As part of our museum’s Collector Series, visitors will be able to view previously unseen works by the late Singaporean pioneer artist, Chen Wen Hsi.
In this special edition, the exhibition brings together two private collections, from Johnny Quek—close friend and long-time patron of Chen—and the Lewis sisters, Jennifer Lewis and Geraldine Lewis-Pereira. The selected works will be accompanied by stories from the collectors as well as rare insights into Chen’s artistic process.
Despite the relatively short history of modern Singapore, little remains today from our yesteryears. However, two things have endured: the size of our island and the brilliance of its pioneer artists. Drawing parallels to our city-state, we will be shining the spotlight on Chen’s small-scale ink works for the first time, unlike past retrospective surveys of the esteemed artist.
We invite viewers to rediscover Chen Wen Hsi through the lens of private collectors and the untold stories behind their collections.