With the March school holidays just around the corner, families are likely looking for activities that can bridge the gap between entertaining the kids and keeping the adults engaged. I recently took my 15 year old son to National Gallery Singapore to check out their latest offering, the “Feel Your Way Through the Gallery” self guided trail.
Inspired by Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2, this experience promised to present art with emotion for the whole family. We went in slightly skeptical, wondering if an art museum could really compete with the usual screens and mall hangouts for the attention of a teenager. I was pleasantly surprised. If this works for us, it will definitely be a draw for younger kids.
We visited on a Saturday morning for a self-paced exploration starting from 10am when the musuem opens it door. The premise of the trail is simple but clever. Instead of just walking through the galleries looking at paintings, the trail encourages you to connect with five core emotions from the film Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Anxiety by viewing specific artworks and even public spaces through that lens.
We picked up the complimentary activity booklet from the visitor services counter at the Basement 1 Padang Atrium. The booklet is well designed, featuring simple games and drawing prompts that guide you through the experience. It is limited to the first 100 redemptions per day, so do arrive early.
The trail led us through the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery, where we stood before massive canvases and tried to decipher our emotional reactions.
Standing in front of Raden Saleh’s monumental Boschbrand (Forest Fire) from 1849, it was easy to tap into the emotion of “Fear.” The sheer scale of the flames and the dramatic depiction of animals fleeing evoked a sense of panic.
This was contrasted later by the “Sadness” of Raden Saleh’s Wounded Lion, a poignant and quiet piece pushing us to pause and reflect.
One of the most effective parts of the trail was the physical spaces themselves. Beyond the artworks, the trail cleverly tags locations within the historic buildings to specific emotions.
“Fear,” for example, was mapped to the Holding Cells in the Supreme Court Wing. Walking into those cells, with their heavy doors and low ceilings was a tangible, chilling walk into the past of the erstwhile Supreme Court building, long before it was converted into a museum.
Similarly, “Anger” was tied to the UOB Southeast Asia Gallery 1 in the Supreme Court Wing, a space that feels rigid and imposing due to its history as a courtroom. It made for a fascinating way to learn about the building’s history without it feeling like a history lesson.
Beyond the Inside Out trail, we considered ourselves incredibly lucky to catch the final day of the blockbuster exhibition, Into the Modern: Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This is the largest French Impressionist exhibition in Southeast Asia, and it is easy to see why it has drawn such crowds. The gallery extended its hours until 10pm on the final weekend, and timed entry slots were in high demand.
Walking through the galleries, we saw iconic works by Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Édouard Manet. What made this exhibition stand out was the curatorial narrative, which connected the Impressionists’ focus on modernity with contemporary conversations about urban life and the environment.
Seeing Monet’s artworks up close was a highlight, but the inclusion of experimental prints by artists like Camille Pissarro and the juxtaposition with Singaporean artist Lim Yew Kuan’s woodblock prints provided a fresh perspective that connected the European masters to our local context.
Located in the Civic District and housed in the beautifully restored former City Hall and Supreme Court buildings, National Gallery Singapore is marking its 10th anniversary this year. It remains the largest modern and contemporary art museum in Southeast Asia and home to the world’s largest public collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian art.
We wrapped up our afternoon with a meal at Cafe Brera within the Gallery, rounding off what turned out to be a fun and enriching day.
For families looking for a meaningful activity this March holidays, the “Feel Your Way Through the Gallery” self guided trail at the National Gallery Singapore is one cultural outing that bridges generations with ease.
