Tan Choon Ghee is celebrated for his charming depictions of Penang’s architecture and vibrant street life, capturing the soul of the island. Working primarily in watercolour, his delicate brushstrokes conveys the elegance of colonial shophouses. Scenes located on the streets reflect his perception of daily life, whereby architectural details and people’s routines are deftly captured. His remarkable skill in portraying light is revealed through the clever suggestion of shadows, achieved by applying fluid, translucent washes of light colours.  Choon Ghee was trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, graduating in 1951, and continued his studies at the Slade School of Art in London, graduating in 1969. After receiving a German Government painting scholarship and an Australian Government TV set design scholarship, he worked for TV Singapore and TV Broadcasting Ltd in Hong Kong. But he gave up a cushy job to go full time into painting at the end of 1967, and never looked back. He was given a retrospective by The Art Gallery Penang in 1992, and a grander one chronicling his works from 1957 to 2000 by the Penang State Art Gallery in 2000.