Self-Portrait

Lim painted this self-portrait in 1964, three years before he retired. Retirement was a cause for celebration, as it meant Lim would finally have more time to devote to his art. For even though he had been dedicated to his job in the civil service, his heart lay with painting.

Lim wrote in his diary, “There’s nothing like the freedom to do what one likes every day, and that is precisely what I am looking forward to after 24th May 1967, when I shall be on retirement […], no more servitude to office work and having all the time in the world to plan and do the only things I want to do, draw and paint, draw and paint, [take] country walks, read, listen to sweet music, meet friends, etc.”

Think about the self-portrait you saw at the start of this exhibition. While that was painted in pastel, this self-portrait was painted in watercolour. In both paintings Lim looks directly at the viewer, but in this painting his gaze is more mature and slightly melancholic. Washes of watercolour lend it a pensive mood. Painted nearly 20 years apart, the two self-portraits reflect Lim’s journey to continuously improve his art.

Thank you for joining us on this tour of highlights from Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore. Do feel free to return to this exhibition to take a closer look at Lim’s other paintings to get a deeper sense of his journey and relationship with the Singapore landscape.