National Gallery Singapore unveils Southeast Asia’s grandest Impressionist showcase

Singapore is set to experience a defining cultural moment as the National Gallery Singapore presents Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—a monumental exhibition opening on November 14, 2025.

Billed as the largest presentation of French Impressionism ever held in Southeast Asia, it brings together over 100 works by 25 artists who transformed the course of modern art. Among them are 17 canvases by Claude Monet, alongside masterpieces by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas. All are on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA Boston), which houses one of the world’s most comprehensive Impressionist collections outside France.

Developed jointly by the National Gallery Singapore and MFA Boston, the exhibition offers more than a parade of icons—it’s a reimagining of Impressionism through the lens of modern life. Spanning three gallery spaces, Into the Modern invites visitors to rediscover how these artists responded to the transformations of the late 19th century: the rise of cities and leisure, shifts in labor and gender roles, and the advent of a new way of seeing the world through light and color. A contemporary scenography—cool-toned walls, projected archival images, and grand-scale posters—amplifies the energy and immediacy of their vision. The result is not a historical exercise but a living dialogue between past and present.

Organized into seven thematic sections—Seeking the Open Air, Plein Air Impressionism, Labour and Leisure on the Water, Shared Ambitions, Modern Encounters, Reimagining the Commonplace, and Monet: Moment and Memory—the exhibition charts the evolution of the movement from forested landscapes to the vibrant pulse of Paris.

Visitors are first transported to the rustic Fontainebleau forest, where painters such as Théodore Rousseau began capturing the natural world before industrialization altered it forever. That pursuit of authenticity paved the way for artists like Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet to take their easels outdoors, chasing fleeting light and shifting skies in their revolutionary plein air paintings.

The journey continues through harbors and coastlines, where Degas and Monet depicted the new rhythms of leisure made possible by steamships and railways, and into the cafés and boulevards of Paris, where Manet chronicled the modern city with an unflinching eye. The exhibition culminates in a meditative finale devoted to Monet—nine luminous works tracing his lifelong exploration of atmosphere and memory, presented alongside rare 1915 film footage of the artist at work in his Giverny garden.

“Through our close collaboration with the MFA, we are proud to bring one of the world’s greatest collections of Impressionism to the Gallery,” says Dr. Eugene Tan, CEO and director of the National Gallery Singapore.

“Into the Modern presents these seminal works through a distinct curatorial lens that connects Impressionism to contemporary conversations about society, the environment, and urban life. At the same time, it explores the legacy of Impressionism in Southeast Asia,” Tan continues.

MFA Boston’s Ann and Graham Gund director Pierre Terjanian adds, “This project exemplifies the power of art to connect people across time, cultures, and place, to ideas past and present… From rural farmlands to coastal resort towns or sites of urban leisure, these 19th-century visions of modern life continue to inspire contemporary audiences.”

Beyond the masterpieces, the exhibition introduces reflection zones and interactive ARTelier spaces, where visitors can explore how Impressionist methods inspired artists across the region. One highlight traces the plein air tradition in Vietnam, while another examines Singapore painter Georgette Chen’s use of light in Singapore Waterfront (1963). A third station spotlights Lim Yew Kuan, whose iterative prints recall Camille Pissarro’s sensitivity to everyday life. These contemporary threads tie Impressionism’s legacy directly to Southeast Asia’s artistic evolution.

Corporate partners are enhancing the experience further. Singtel’s vice president of group corporate affairs and investor relations Lian Pek notes, “Who would have thought that the iconic masterpieces of Monet, Cézanne, and Degas would one day come to the shores of our little red dot for Singaporeans and visitors to enjoy? With the exhibition also spotlighting the legacy of Impressionism in Southeast Asia, this is not just a showcase of a French art movement but an exploration of the connections and conversations that it inspired globally.”

J.P. Morgan serves as presenting partner, while the Singapore Tourism Board lends strategic support in positioning the event as a milestone in the city’s emergence as a global cultural destination.

Complementing the show are collaborations that extend the experience beyond the gallery walls.

Pierre Hermé Paris will present Into the Haute Pâtisserie, a limited-edition pop-up from November 14 to December 31 at the Gallery, offering special macarons inspired by featured artworks. Fairmont Singapore’s ANTI:DOTE will serve An Impressionist- Inspired Afternoon Tea from November 6 this year to January 31, 2026, translating brushstrokes and palettes into delicate desserts. The Gallery Store by ABRY will release a collection of exhibition merchandise, from catalogues and coasters to umbrellas adorned with Monet’s iconic imagery.

Running until March 1, 2026 at the Singtel Special Exhibition Galleries, Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is more than a blockbuster show—it’s a chance to step into the light-dappled world that changed the way we see.

Through every brushstroke, from Renoir’s sunlit riverbanks to Cézanne’s solid forms, the exhibition reminds us that Impressionism’s greatest subject was never merely a landscape or a figure—it was modern life itself.