Claude Monet. "Le bassin aux nymphéas, harmonie rose" (Waterlily Pond, Pink Harmony). 1900. Collection of Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France. Gift of Count Isaac de Camondo, 1911. RF 2005. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.

The fourth international presentation at the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery, Century of Light, will introduce two exciting exhibitions on art from the 19th century. 

Visitors can look forward to Colours of Impressionism: Masterpieces from The Musée d'Orsay, which tells the story of Impressionism through the colours that master painters used at different stages in their careers. The exhibition offers visitors the rare opportunity to see these masterpieces that have not been shown in the region before.

Featuring over 60 masterpieces from the collection of one of Europe’s leading art museums, including key works by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet and Camille Pissarro, it traces the significance of colour to the Impressionists' radical reshaping of painting in the 19th century. 

The second exhibition, Between Worlds: Raden Saleh and Juan Luna, focuses on two leading painters from Southeast Asia who achieved wide acclaim in Europe––Indonesian artist Raden Saleh (c.1811–1880) and Filipino artist Juan Luna (1857–1899). This will be the first major survey to bring their works together, drawing from important collections around the world. 

It explores how Raden Saleh and Juan Luna responded to art movements in the 19th century; and how the European experiences of these extraordinary Southeast Asian artists have shaped the art history of this region.

Together, these two exhibitions demonstrate the range of painting styles and art movements that developed in Europe during the formative period, which has been and continues to be influential on the development of art in Southeast Asia and around the world. 

Century of Light runs from 16 November 2017 to 11 March 2018 at National Gallery Singapore.

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