A jaw-dropping oil painting of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew has caught the eyes of netizens, drawing comments of amazement as well as messages paying tribute to Singapore’s first Prime Minister. The painting, done by the mother of a netizen, led others to support her online art account wherein she shares some of her personal portraits.
As the saying goes, “A picture’s worth a thousand words.” In the case of the photo shared by Reddit user @Ameetsa on Saturday (Jul 10), sometimes, they’re worth a million. With a one-liner caption saying “Oil painting of Lee Kuan Yew done by my mom,” the work of art garnered over 2,000 upvotes in just a little over a day.
Oil painting of Lee Kuan Yew done by my mom 🙂
byu/Ameetsa insingapore
The professional portrait captured a smiling Mr Lee. Netizens pointed out that they thought this was a photo portrait instead of an oil painting. While some left compliments for the netizen’s mother, others made inquiries as to whether or not she accepts commissions.
The sharer of this photo added links to the Instagram page of the artist’s work as well as to the online site of her studio in the comments, which others checked out and ended up following. The netizen’s mother, who was said to be a professional artist, even answered a comment or two through the sharer’s account.
After complimenting her attention to detail, one netizen asked how much time oil paint needs to dry up. “Hi! Here’s what she says, though it’s a really simplified version since it depends on the style, type of paint etc,” @Ameetsa responded. “To be touch-dry, 24 to 48 hrs; for framing, 1 month; to add varnish, six to nine months.”
Other netizens left heartfelt comments saying they missed Mr Lee and his leadership. One even wrote, “I hate politics, especially in the mad world we live in today, but I genuinely miss the late Mr Lee. Imagine if we had him as the leader today, in his youth. He’d find some way to make Singapore excel and come out on top even in these completely chaotic times. Hope he’s resting in peace.”
