Ninety-nine paintings spanning more than six decades of Penang’s streetscapes, heritage buildings and coastal landscapes will go on display in Kuala Lumpur next month when The Poetry of Light: A Retrospective of Chong Hon Fatt opens at Harmoni Soka Gallery on 8 August.
According to Pocket News, the exhibition features works created between 1959 and 2026 by Dato’ Chong Hon Fatt, a Penang-born impressionist painter recognised for his treatment of light and colour in oil.
The collection, which runs until 20 September, brings together pieces from private collections that have rarely been seen together in public. Chong’s work traces the transformation of Penang from a quiet port town to a UNESCO-listed heritage destination, with canvases capturing Georgetown’s five-foot ways, clan jetties and the construction of the Second Penang Bridge.
As Chong’s gallery notes, he was commissioned by two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in China to paint heritage buildings under the Fortified Towers Under the Sun project in Guangdong and Fujian provinces in 2007 and 2009, reflecting his growing reputation beyond Malaysia.
The Penang state government recognised his contributions to art when he was bestowed the D.S.P.N. (Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri) title by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri on 17 August 2016. Chong also served as chairman of the Chung Ling Art Society in 1959–60, making him one of the earliest post-war art leaders in Penang.
Soka Gakkai Malaysia, which is organising the exhibition, said the retrospective is designed to let visitors trace how the island has changed through one painter’s sustained observation.
Admission is free. Harmoni Soka Gallery is open daily except Mondays. The exhibition runs from 8 August to 20 September 2026.
