Dates: 14 Aug 2026 – 3 Oct 2027 · daily 10am to 7pm
In the 1960s Lai Foong Moi was a name: trained in Paris, the first Malayan-born woman to hold solo shows in Singapore and Malaya, painting women, workers and a city being rebuilt. Then she slipped out of public memory. This small, focused show at National Gallery Singapore brings her back, and it’s an easy add-on to any Gallery visit.
At a glance
Neighbourhood
Civic District (City Hall Wing, Level 2)
Best for
Art and history fans, and anyone curious about Singapore just before and after independence
Budget
Free for Singapore citizens and PRs with a General Admission ticket; paid General Admission for other visitors
Time to allow
30 to 45 minutes for this show; longer for the rest of the Gallery
Nearest MRT
City Hall (EW13/NS25)
Good to know
Runs until 3 October 2027. The same ticket covers Fan Chang Tien and the main Singapore Stories galleries
Why go?
It tells a story most people haven’t heard. Lai (1931–1995) trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the École des Beaux-Arts, then came home in the late 1950s to a region working out what nationhood meant.
Her subjects feel modern: women, labour and urban change, painted inside traditional genres like portraits, still lifes and landscapes.
It’s free for locals and runs for more than a year, so there’s no rush, but it’s easy to miss inside the bigger permanent galleries.
What to do
01 · Look for the ‘crossings’
The show is framed around crossings as moments of transition, encounter and becoming. Look for Crossing (Home Coming), a 1964 oil on canvas lent from the Singapore Airlines collection.
02 · Read up before or after
The Gallery has put the brochure, a digital catalogue and exhibition text in Chinese, Malay and Tamil online. Its Padang Spotlights episode features curator Teo Hui Min with Lai’s former student Salleh bin Japar and her contemporary Yeo Hoe Koon.
03 · Use the same ticket for more
Crossings is part of the Dalam Singapore series in the annexe of DBS Singapore Gallery 3. The same General Admission ticket covers Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art, plus Fan Chang Tien: Rhythm of the Southern Brush in the Wu Guangzhong Gallery.
Plan your visit
Address
DBS Singapore Gallery, City Hall Wing Level 2, National Gallery Singapore, 1 St Andrew’s Road, Singapore 178957
Opening hours
Daily 10am to 7pm, 14 August 2026 to 3 October 2027. Ticket sales end 30 minutes before closing
Getting there
City Hall MRT (EW13/NS25), then a short walk past the Padang
Tickets or booking
General Admission ticket required (valid for 180 days from purchase). Free for Singapore citizens and PRs, children 6 and under, Singapore-based students and teachers, and persons with disabilities and their caregiver
Accessibility
The Gallery publishes an access advisory for this show; check it before you go. Some rooms are cold, so bring a layer
Before you go
- Book your free or paid General Admission ticket online first to skip the counter (suggestion).
- The UOB Southeast Asia Gallery is closed until late 2027, so plan around the Singapore galleries for now.
- See more of the building in our National Gallery Singapore guide, and the ink-painting show on the same ticket in our Fan Chang Tien guide.
Inside the Gallery
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Sources and disclosure
Information checked: 24 October 2026 · National Gallery Singapore – Lai Foong Moi: Crossings (official) · National Gallery Singapore – Lai Foong Moi exhibition catalogue (official)
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors, used under the licences shown in each caption (images resized): Jacklee (CC BY-SA 4.0); Dietmar Rabich (CC BY-SA 4.0); ScribblingGeek (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Disclosure: Not a firsthand visit. Dates, location, ticket rules and artist details come from National Gallery Singapore’s official exhibition page, checked on 24 October 2026. Photos are freely licensed views of the Gallery and DBS Singapore Gallery from earlier years, not this exhibition. We weren’t paid or hosted, and there are no affiliate links.