Pop after Pop brings Warhol, and Southeast Asia, to National Gallery

Soup cans and comic strips, with a good deal from closer to home.

Put this down for a December afternoon, especially with teenagers off school and rain in the forecast. Pop after Pop: Art around Us runs at National Gallery Singapore from 11 December 2026 to 4 April 2027, and the reason to go is the pairings rather than the famous names. The Gallery bills it as Southeast Asia's largest Pop Art group exhibition, with more than 200 works by over 100 artists, and it is the Gallery's first collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York. It is a ticketed Special Exhibition; the rates are in the box.

The household names are all there, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Barbara Kruger among them. The interesting part is who shares the walls with them: Southeast Asian artists including Ming Wong, FX Harsono and Manit Sriwanichpoom. The 'after' in the title points to a show as curious about what pop became once it travelled as about where it began, which is exactly the angle a Singapore show is placed to take.

Don't expect it to stay politely in one room. The Star reports it will take over several gallery spaces and public areas across the building, so allow time to wander, because some of it will be in the corridors between the galleries. It also fills a gap this season: the Gallery's UOB Southeast Asia Gallery is closed for renewal, with reopening expected in late 2027, so this is the main chance to see regional artists in the building for a while.

A December opening makes it an easy answer to the school-holiday question of what to do on a rainy afternoon, and a useful corrective for anyone who thinks they already know what pop art looks like. City Hall is the nearest MRT; check the Gallery's exhibition page for the programme closer to opening.

Good to know 11 December 2026 to 4 April 2027 at National Gallery Singapore, 1 St Andrew's Road (nearest MRT: City Hall). The Gallery lists tickets at S$15 for Singaporeans and PRs and S$25 for foreign residents and tourists. Check the Gallery's exhibition page closer to opening.

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National Gallery Singapore | 1 St Andrew's Road, Singapore 178957