本文首先將聚焦討論新加坡國家美術館的案例，從其國家收藏的建立過程以及國家對於藝術文化態度的轉變，藉以釐清新加坡國家美術館成立前的社會環境與具體的物質條件。接者將針對國家美術館成立之後，從其建築、展示與論述來檢視新加坡國家美術館中所呈現的「國家」與「區域」概念。最後，透過新加坡的案例來回溯西方脈絡下國家美術館所暗示的「國家」概念以及其與「區域」之間的關係，並與亞洲地區幾間國立美術館／博物館進行比較，藉以凸顯出東西方對於「區域藝術展示」理解與詮釋上的差異以及新加坡國家美術館之於亞洲的獨特性。;The tradition of national gallery as the centre of displaying regional arts started from the National Gallery London, which was founded in 1824. This concept generally exists in most western national galleries, for example, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. As Singapore used to be part of the British Colonies, the National Gallery Singapore, opened in 2015, has somehow inherited this concept and organized the permanent display based on it. This thesis focuses on the case of Singapore to see how and why national galleries became the centre of displaying regional arts, as well as the underlying issue of the relationship between nation and region.
In the first chapter, this thesis looks back to the process of building the National Collection of Singapore and the shift in government’s attitude toward the arts and culture to clarify the social context and the material circumstance before the National Gallery Singapore was founded. The second chapter focuses on the National Gallery Singapore, examining its buildings, displays and narratives, to see how they present the concept of nation and region. The third chapter reviews the concept of nation and the relation between national galleries and regions in the western context. Finally, this thesis will compare the western national galleries with a few Asian national museums to see their discrepancy interpreting and displaying regional arts, thus highlighting the uniqueness of the National Gallery Singapore in Asia.
