Yong Mun Sen’s iconic watercolour paintings usually capture the grandeur of nature. Unlike this piece rendered in swift and deft strokes shows a celebrative ceremony held at a temple. People are seen carrying offers on their heads and harmoniously embracing their cultural beliefs. Dubbed the ‘Father of Malaysian Painting’ in the eponymous book by Dato' Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, the legendary Yong Mun Sen was a fourth-generation Malaysian who was accorded posthumous memorial exhibitions in Singapore (1966), Kuala Lumpur (National Art Gallery, March 1972) and Penang (Penang State Art Gallery, PSAG, September 1972). The PSAG honoured him with a major Retrospective in 1999. Mun Sen boasted solo exhibitions in London (Malayan Pavilion, British Industrial Fair, 1948), Tasmania (Australia) and Cleveland (United States). He co-founded the Penang Chinese Art Club (1936), the Singapore Society of Chinese Artists (1936) and the Penang Art Society (1953). He set up the Tai Koon Studio in Penang in 1922 (renamed Mun Sen Studio in 1930, with a branch in Northam Road the next year). Until then, he went by his birth name, Yong Yen Lang.