Kwai Fung Hin Announced First Overseas Branch in Singapore Inaugural Exhibition: Worlds beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II

Gen de Art
3 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 2 hours ago

Kwai Fung Hin was proud to announce its first overseas outpost in Singapore, a significant milestone in the gallery's international program. Located at South Beach, the new gallery was inaugurated with a significant exhibition titled “Worlds beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II”, featuring an 1887 masterpiece Pivoines (Peonies) by Claude Monet alongside works by prominent modern and contemporary artists, namely, Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, Lalan, Li Huayi, Teo Eng Seng, Xue Song, Ziad Dalloul and Shara Hughes.

(L-R) Claude Monet Pivoines (Peonies) 1887,Oil on canvas; Ziad Dallou, A Summer Morning (2021), Oil on canvas

Framed within Monet’s beloved garden at Giverny, this exhibition delved into the interplay between place and artistic inspiration, nature and culture, through the enduring legacy of the impressionist.

Drawing analogy between Giverny as a fertile ground for creative breakthroughs and Singapore as a garden city characterized by lush urban greenery intertwining with multicultural influences, this exhibition also served as the gallery’s visual vision statement to become a cultural hub that planted the seed for future artistic discourse, fostering exchanges that bridge historical legacies with contemporary sensibilities.

New Journey, Same Vision

2026 marked the 35th anniversary of Kwai Fung Hin, a homegrown gallery in Hong Kong recognized for its forward-looking cross-cultural approach and dedication to supporting artists’ creative developments. Such endeavor was born out of the founder Ms. Catherine Kwai’s strong interest in studying the postwar Parisien art scene which became a major cultural melting pots thanks to the influx of immigrant artists. These artists heralded the most important movements in art history through mutual influences and reinterpretation of their own cultural traditions.

Singapore was a dynamic city rich in diverse cultures and with great respect for different traditions, boasting an art scene that was energetic and rapidly developing. Having spent the last few years understanding the market, the gallery was convinced of its potential by the city’s cultural infrastructure, and the passion of collectors and art lovers alike.

On the occasion of the opening, Catherine Kwai, Founder and CEO of Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, said: “Kwai Fung Hin will continue its long-standing mission in Singapore, introducing international talents and bringing fresh perspective through our diverse programs. We wish to contribute to the art development in Singapore while expanding the gallery’s international outreach.”

Catherine Kwai, Courtesy of Kwai Fung Hin

Inaugural Exhibition: “Worlds beyond Reality – Monet’s Legacy II”

Taking viewers on a stroll through Monet’s garden in Giverny and the personal gardens of eight artists across generations and geographies, this exhibition explored their representations of nature in relation to their cultural milieus and lived experiences, revealing the close relationship between place and artistic inspiration. Taking Monet’s deliberate cultivation of his garden in Giverny as a point of departure, it presented the garden as a dynamic site where nature and culture interact, a composed landscape that reflects a spectrum of human emotion, memory and inner vision.

Standing in dialogue with Monet, the modern and contemporary artists featured in this exhibition expanded this garden metaphor with their diverse approaches and discerning ways of seeing born out of their profound artistic cultivations. In capturing the fleeting beauty of nature, they also revealed the spiritual, philosophical and psychological realms beyond the surface of perception.