| THE AYALA WAY

Vol 6 No 49

“By contextualizing Zóbel’s practice within Southeast Asian and global art histories, Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential affirms the Gallery’s commitment to shaping new perspectives of art and deepening cross cultural dialogue.”

PATRICK FLORES
National Gallery Singapore Chief Curator

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Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential

Singapore’s first-ever solo exhibition dedicated to Fernando Zóbel (1924-1984) is unveiling fresh narratives about the cosmopolitan artist, patron, collector, and scholar who bridged cultural contexts and shaped modernist movements worldwide.

Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential, which opened on May 9 at the National Gallery Singapore, features 200 pieces, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and archival materials. Spanning two galleries and five sections, it also features original works of key international artists Zóbel engaged with and collected throughout his career such as Mark Rothko, Antoni Tàpies, and Liu Kuo-sung.

Tracing his artistic journey across the United States, the Philippines, and Spain, Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential invites audiences to reflect on how modernism took different forms in each place and time, and how Zóbel’s practice navigated and bridged these cultural environments.

The exhibition runs until November 30, and is presented in close collaboration with Museo Nacional del Prado, Fundacion Juan March, and Ayala Museum. It builds on Zóbel: The Future of the Past, which opened at Museo Nacional del Prado in 2022, and was restaged at Ayala Museum in 2024.

For more information, visit https://www.nationalgallery.sg/Zobel.

Ayala Foundation Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala (front row, third from left) at the opening of Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential together with exhibition partners and special guests, including Ayala Museum Acting Director and Head of Exhibitions and Collections Aprille Tijam, Contempo Senior Consultant for Arts and Culture Mariles Gustilo, Ayala Corporation Corporate Resources Group Head Francisco Romero Milán, and Ayala Museum Exhibitions and Collections Consultant Kenneth Esguerra

Installation views of Fernando Zóbel: Order is Essential / Image credits: National Gallery Singapore, 2025