新加坡美术馆是东南亚地区具有国际标准化博物馆设施与项目的首批美术馆之一。它致力于20世纪东南亚美术作品的收藏和展览，是拥有20世纪东南亚美术藏品最多的美术馆。它与一批世界上新成立的有展览和社区项目成功实施经验的美术馆结成联盟，开展国际化公共机构运营。

    新加坡美术馆前身是位于新加坡乌拉士巴沙（Bras Basah）路的19世纪圣约瑟书院旧校舍，于1996年1月正式开馆。现有建筑面积10,000平方米，其中展览面积约3,000平方米，拥有14间配备温湿度控制设备的展室，另有图书阅览室、礼堂、多功能厅、美术馆商店等设施。自开馆以来，美术馆一直致力于改善新加坡的文化环境，并不断通过开展各种展览和项目来达到这一目标。

    自建馆以来，新加坡美术馆的藏品从不足2,000件增加至超过7,000余件。在经常性展出其东南亚艺术藏品的同时，还策划了多种以国家为关注点的展览，分别在马来西亚、印度尼西亚和泰国举办“从古至今”、“灵魂的联系：土地与人民”以及“信仰与存在”等展览。也曾于2004年9月至2005年6月在马尼拉的阿亚拉博物馆展出了菲律宾艺术藏品。此外，该馆推出了许多在新加坡国内外影响深远的展览，包括“东南亚美术主题”、“新加坡的百年美术”、“我们时代的艺术”、“总统特选新秀作品展”、“英雄十年：1955年至1965年的新加坡艺术”、“20世纪70年代东南亚当代艺术作品展（新加坡双年专题展览）”，最新的展览是在中国美术馆展出的“新加坡美术馆藏品展”。此外，美术馆还引进了多项国际性画展，包括“达·芬奇：科学家、发明家和艺术家”、“德国美术：20世纪60年代至70年代”、“法国的现代艺术之源”、“从莫奈到摩尔：莎莉公司的千禧年礼物”、“相遇现代主义”、“伯特罗在新加坡”、“朱铭作品展”以及最近的“立体主义在亚洲”。

    除了举办展览之外，社区教育工作一直是新加坡美术馆的重要职能之一。它希望在本国和地区性文化背景下推动人们对艺术的了解和欣赏，并籍此促进新加坡文化环境的活跃和发展。实现上述目的不仅依靠美术馆的展览项目，另有其多语教育项目和公共项目，这些项目涉及具体介绍各种艺术趋势并进行艺术实践、开展公开演讲等，从而最大限度地满足了当地社会以及到新加坡旅游的地区性和国际游客的需要。

Singapore Art Museum

The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is one of the first art museums with international standard museum facilities and programmes in Southeast Asia. Dedicated to the collection and display of 20th century Southeast Asian art, SAM joins a league of new generation museums around the world with well-executed exhibitions and community outreach programmes. The Museum houses the largest collection in 20thcentury Southeast Asian art by a public institution internationally.

At the restored 19th-century St Joseph's Institution building on Bras Basah Road, The Singopore Are Museum opened is door officially in January 1996. Currently, The Museum has 10,000-square metre floor space, including 14 full climate-controlled galleries, a reference library, an auditorium, a multi-purpose hall, a museum shop, courtyards, a restaurant and a café. Exhibition space stands at 3,000-square metre. Since its opening, the Museum has been stimulating the cultural environment of Singapore and continues to do so with breathtaking shows and exciting programmes.

Since its opening, the Museum's permanent collection has grown from under 2,000 art works to over 7,000 making it the largest collection of 20th-century Southeast Asian art. With its focus, the Museum has presented many exhibitions which has great influence in and out of Singapore, for example, Themes in Southeast Asian Art，A Century of Art in Singapore , Art of Our Time , President’s Young Talents, Heroic Decade: Singapore Art 1955 – 1965, ‘Telah Terbit’ (Out Now): Southeast Asian Contemporary Art Practices During the 1970s (Special focus exhibition of the Si ngapore Biennale), Singapore Art Museum Collection at National Art Museum of China. the Museum also curated country focus exhibitions, From There to Now, Soul Ties: The Land & Her People and Faith & Being, on Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand respectively. The museum’s Philippine Art Collection was also presented at Ayala Museum, Manila in 09/04 – 06/05. In addition, The Museum has brought in several international shows including Leonardo da Vinci :Scientist-Inventor-Artist, German Art :1960s to 1970s, The Origins of Modern Art in France, and Monet to Moore: Millennium Gift of The Sara Lee Corporation, Encounters with Modernism, Botero in Singapore, Ju Ming and more recently and Cubism in Asia.

Community outreach continues to be an important area of the Museum's function. The Museum aims to promote awareness and appreciation of art within the local and regional context and in so doing, it hopes to encourage the growth of an active and stimulating cultural environment in Singapore. This is done not only through the Museum's exhibition programmes but also through its multilingual education and public programmes which cover a diversity of art trends and practices, fringe activities and public lectures, aimed at reaching the local community at large as well as regional and international visitors to Singapore.