Ever the art juggernaut, Singapore has clicked its creative agenda into especially high gear this winter. Two Da Vinci exhibits began with Da Vinci: Shaping the Future at the ArtScience Museum (through April 31), displaying 26 pages of his 12-volume Codex Atlanticus alongside six paintings from his students and five contemporary art installations inspired by his penned models. And just across the water at The Arts House of the Old Parliament, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Earlier Mona Lisa (Dec. 6– Feb. 11) debuts the artist’s portrait of the enigmatic madam in her younger years.
In a more Singaporean renaissance, the MAD Museum of Art & Design has moved into a new home on Tanglin Road, where it now fills two floors with works by contemporary artists as well as a cigar lounge, café, and gift shop. And as a finale to the season, Singapore Art Week (Jan 17–25) overflows with gallery openings, exhibitions, special events, and all the art-world glamazons who will flock to Marina Bay Sands for the coinciding fifth edition of Art Stage Singapore (Jan. 22–25), the flagship art fair of Southeast Asia. –Gabrielle Lipton
This article originally appeared in the December/January print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Lion City Luster”)