Born in Singapore in 1948, Professor Lim Yean Leng is a distinguished cardiologist, medical educator, and artist with a lifelong devotion to the arts and to education. He obtained his Diploma in Fine Arts from the NAFA at a young age before pursuing his medical studies in Australia as a Colombo Plan scholar. Lim has played a significant role in Singapore's art education. As Chairman of NAFA's Board of Management, he helped lay the planning and groundwork for the academy's campuses at Bencoolen Street.
This painting was executed in 1967 while he was studying in Australia. Completed over three weeks as he listened to Bedřich Smetana’s symphonic cycle Má vlast (My Fatherland) , Lim recounted that he had “created it in a moment of homesickness”. The work depicts key landmarks and architectural features of Singapore painted from memory, serving as a personal tribute to his homeland. The large composition is marked by expressive line work and a strong modernist sensibility, underpinned by his early training at NAFA in academic painting and his long practice of Chinese calligraphy. The fusion of precise craftsmanship with lyrical brushwork reflects both his artistic lineage and his attachment to Singapore’s cultural landscape.
