The National Art Gallery

Let me start with a confession: I was not aware that Malaysia had a National Art Gallery. My friend George mentioned this museum to me and asked me if I would like to come with him and visit it. The museum is located next to the Istana Budaya (National Theatre), and can be reached by public transport. We decided to meet at the Hospital Kuala Lumpur MRT station, from where the museum is within walking distance.

George is quite expert about KL public transport and advised me to use two MRT lines. First the Kajang line from Damansara Mutiara to Kwasa Damansara and transfer there to the Putrajaya line until the Hospital KL station. On my way back continue the Putrajaya line until the TRX station and transfer there to the Kajang line. A circuitous route, but fun. Altogether 34 stations! I used the Komoot app on my phone to record the trip. Komoot adds pictures taken during the trip to the report, just click on the map below to view them. Part of the MRT is underground, no GPS, that’s why you see two straight lines at the right.

The MRT to Kwasa Damansara was almost empty, but the Putrajaya line was slowly filling up in Sri Damansara and Kepong. Notice the red line, it marks where the women’s coach starts. The seats there also have red markers.

I had a seat at the front of the coach, from where I could take pictures. The MRT lines are state of the art and make traveling really easy.

The Hospital KL station is huge and has an underground passage to the General Hospital. But I took the Jalan Kuantan exit to meet George.

At first we missed each other, I had to call him, as he was waiting for me inside the station while I went out already.

This is the Istana Budaya, opened in 1999, but now already closed three years for renovation. Interesting architecture, many years ago I have attended a concert there.

It was almost noon, we decided to have lunch first and found a few stalls nearby where we had nasi lemak and coffee.

Walking to the museum entrance, we passed already a few (modern) artworks.

Entrance to the museum is free, you have to register in a modern way, via a QR code. From 2022-2025 the museum will show part of its permanent collection, the exhibition is called NUSA (motherland in English). There is an informative online catalog available (select the NUSA icon, loading will take some time).

The National Art Gallery was created in 1958, one year after the Independence of Malaysia. The present building was designed by a Malaysian architect and opened in 1998. The interior is vaguely reminiscent of the iconic Guggenheim Museum in New York, but the spiral ramp, although visually attractive, is not functional here.

First we visited the Enrique de Malacca Memorial Project on the ground floor. Enrique was a Malay boy, acquired in Melaka as a slave by Magellan, brought back to Europe, accompanied Magellan on his famous circumnavigation of the world and disappeared without leaving any trace after Magellan was killed in the Philippines, during a battle. Assuming that Enrique, now ~ 25 year old, had gone back to Melaka, he would have been the first human who had personally travelled around the world. Worthy of inclusion in the Guinness book of records 😉 . I have condensed the story a lot .

The project belongs to the category installation art. It contains copies of documents and maps, a model of a ship, a video and much more. Here is a statue of Enrique made by Ahmad Fuad Osman, the creator of the memorial project.

A model of a ship, similar to the ships in Magellan’s fleet and a a map of the world as it was known in those days.

For George it was the main reason to visit the museum. I also stayed for a while, but then started to explore the other exhibition halls. I didn’t expect too much, but it became a pleasant surprise. A vibrant collection, full of contrasts, mostly work of local artists. A large variety of styles. The following is a personal selection of the artworks that appealed to me.

Traditional paintings.