Singapore National Gallery and More...

I was very excited to learn that the Singapore National Gallery would be exhibiting some of Indonesia's most famous artist's works. On a recent trip to Singapore we just had to visit the Gallery.
The exhibit was titled Between Worlds: Raden Saleh (from Indonesia) and Juan Luna (from the Phillipines). Both painters lived and worked in the 1800s. From Southeast Asia, both men achieved acclaim in Europe. I've written a little about Raden Saleh previously. We were able to see a few of his paintings in Bali last summer, but photography was not allowed. This time photos were OK!

In his youth Saleh lived in Bogor, West Java. As a young man he relocated to Holland. He met a circus animal tamer who nurtured Saleh's love of animals. He began painting these animals and animals he observed in the wild. There were very few artists including animals at that time. A significant portion of his life was spent living and painting in Europe. From a recent newspaper article: "Dozens of Saleh's works represent the dramatic relationship between human and animal, as depicted in fights between animals, animal hunts by humans, animals threatening humans or the use of animals by humans to kill other animals. The scenes tend to be terrifying, but all of them are elegantly presented." Why so many paintings of this type? He was in awe of animals and many collectors paid him well for these works.
This one it entitled "Lion Hunt."

 Tigers star in this one.

 "Wounded Lion"- this was B's favorite.

Raden Saleh self-portrait:

A recently discovered Saleh painting was purchased by an anonymous buyer (I think I read an anonymous buyer from Indonesia) at auction in Vannes, France for 8,928,000 Euros. Wow!

We were lucky to discover at same time the Gallery was also hosting an exhibition titled "Colors of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée D’Orsay." We had visited this museum when in Paris but this was an unusual collection chosen to demonstrate use of color by artists such as Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, August Renoir and Paul Cézanne—at different stages in their careers.

Impressionists moved out of their studios to capture effects of light using new pigments available to them.

For me, this is an unusual Monet. My photo doesn't do it justice but here it is:

Entitled "La Pie" (The Magpie) 1868-1969 the adjacent signage indicated it was remarkable for its size and mastery of effects of light. It conveys the silence of winter and uses blues, pink and yellow to express the luminous deep snow. The only sign of life is the single bird.  Some critics at the time had issue with the use of color such as Monet's use of blues, pinks and yellow in the snow. This is most probably one of 2 pieces rejected by a jury for exhibition at The Salon in 1869. Note: The Salon was the official annual or biennial art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris between 1748 and 1890— a really big deal! And they didn't want it!

We really enjoyed these two exhibits.

Here's a photo taken while riding the Singapore MRT.

 AND, we were able to return to a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant. The beef hotpot is soooooo good! So yummy!

We were left a towel elephant one day at the hotel. Cute.

Of course, we had to walk the zoo again. With Chinese New Year coming up they decorated the zoo entrance.

Also for the New Year, naturally, there were Chinese New Year soda cans!

There was a new exhibit-- Land of the Giants! These were enormous representations of some interesting flies, spiders, beetles, ants and more.

Top, left to right: Weaver ants, barbardier beetle
Bottom, left to right: P with a worker bee (this was one of the smaller sculptures!), ant mimic caterpillar

Top, left to right: thorn bug, stalk-eyed fly
Bottom, left to right: net-casting spider, Jungle nymph

The orchid mantis is extremely small, but this one was the size of an adult male human.

 A few other critters. Plumed basilisk.

Flat-backed tortoises climbed right into their dinner plate!

This guy appeared to be either on guard duty or planning an escape.

 Nicely done "tool use" area.

 This is their Native Reptile Lookout. It's built for exploring and is fairly large for little ones. There are hidden critters throughout. The sign points out that bamboo groves are cozy homes for many Singapore reptiles and encourages children to explore and find the animals. I really enjoyed this myself.

 A great idea here— selling refillable water bottles right next to FREE potable water.

We re-visited our favorite spot in the zoo, the Fragile Forest multi-species exhibit. We were here early in the day and were fortunate to see the numerous mouse deer in the lowest level. Above we had an unexpected treat. I'd assumed the bat colony was all male. Not! Here's momma bat with baby bat nicely tucked in.

Along with the Land of the Giants exhibit there was a macrophotography exhibit examining some tiny creatures up close: click beetle, hammerhead worm, katydid nymph, plant hopper nymph and on the side a mirror caterpillar. It doesn't really show in the photo but the white dots are just like mirrors.

For me, the most interesting photo was of a footman moth chrysalis. The caterpillar builds a protective cage out of its own hairs before transforming to a cocoon. Cool!

Several really lovely sculptures in wood.