IMPRESSIONISM: A VIEW FROM SINGAPORE
PHOEBE SCOTT

Why should an audience in 21st century Singapore still look at the works of 19th century Impressionism? While developing the exhibition Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, currently on display at National Gallery Singapore, this question was an important concern for the curators. In this talk, collaborating curator Dr Phoebe Scott will share insights from the curation of the exhibition, especially how key experiences of modernity – such as urbanisation, ideas of labour, and environmental change – link Singapore to the original context of the Impressionist movement.


About the speaker


Dr Phoebe Scott is Senior Curator and Deputy Director of Content Publishing at National Gallery Singapore. A collaborating curator for the exhibition Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2025), she was recently also the lead curator for the exhibition City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s (2025). Her research interests include expanded histories of modern art; intersections of modernism and colonialism, especially in Indochina; and Socialist Realism and its legacies. Phoebe holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Sydney, on the subject of modern art in Vietnam.


^{Image credit:
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Dance at Bougival, displayed alongside related archival materials, at Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, currently on display at National Gallery Singapore, 2025. Photo courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.}

Organised by the Friends of the Museums (FOM) with support from ACM