Watercolours of Lim Kim Hai are not easily available for his preferred medium is oil. But in watercolour or oil, Kim Hai displays the same finesse of surface tactility and Hyper-Realist subjects, in this case apples, for which he has been mainly known for to the extent that he is dubbed ‘The Apple King’. Here, he shows a painting within a painting of apples against the grainy wooden textures. Wood was something he had worked in, being tasked with furniture restoration in part of his earlier 17 years in Paris. Lim Kim Hai has won several major awards including the Golden Award in the Salon des Artistes Francais, Paris 1982; Silver Award in the Salon Internationale Du Val D’Or, France 1984; Salon de Mantes La Jolie, France, Rotary Club Award 1986; Prix Henri Lehmann – Peinture from Institut de France, Academy des Beaux 1986; Golden and Public Awards from 52e Salon des Beaux Arts, Enghien-les-Bains, France 1987. He was educated at the Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Beaux Arts, Paris, France (1975-80) and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore (1970-72). After residing in Paris for 17 years, he made a grand return to Malaysia in a solo at the Galeri Maybank in 1992, when his works were price-tagged in the five digits. He also had solos in Singapore, France, Russia, Jordan, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand.