Series
From nineteenth-century Western painters who settled in Macau to contemporary masters who founded 'Neo-Orientalism', Macau has long been a stage for the brush and the visual image. This series gathers painters and visual artists with deep Macau roots — from George Chinnery and Wu Li to Mio Pang Fei, Ung Vai Meng and Carlos Marreiros.
The English painter George Chinnery settled in Macau from 1825 until his death there in 1852; his oils and sketches recorded the street life of Macau and southern China and influenced a whole generation of "China trade" painters. Earlier, in the early Qing, the painter and Catholic priest studied at St Paul's College in Macau, uniting Chinese literati landscape with religious feeling.
George Chinnery
An English painter, born in London in 1774, who spent years in Madras and Calcutta before settling in Macau in 1825, where he lived until his death in 1852. He was the only Western painter resident in South China through the early-to-mid 19th century, recording Macau's streets, temples and the ordinary people of the Pearl River Delta in oils, watercolours and drawings. He is buried in Macau's Old Protestant Cemetery.
Wu Li
A master of early-Qing landscape painting — one of the "Six Masters" — who was also one of China's first Catholic poets and Jesuit priests. In 1681 he came to St Paul's College in Macau to study theology and Latin, and in 1688 was ordained at Nanjing as Simon-Xavier a Cunha, among the earliest Chinese Jesuit priests. His Macau years mark a distinctive chapter in the history of Chinese–Western cultural exchange.
Auguste Borget
A French Orientalist painter and traveller. During a journey around the world he stayed in China in 1838–1839, basing himself for several months mainly in Macau, where he associated with the English painter George Chinnery and produced many sketches and paintings of the Praia Grande, the A-Ma Temple and other scenes of Macau and southern China, later collected in albums such as Sketches of China and the Chinese.
Since the twentieth century, Macau's visual art has grown ever more varied. Mio Pang Fei moved from Shanghai to Macau and founded the East-meets-West "Neo-Orientalism", representing Macau at the Venice Biennale; Ung Vai Meng is both an award-winning artist and the founding director of the Macao Museum of Art; the Macanese architect-painter Carlos Marreiros works across architecture and painting as a key interpreter of Macau's cultural identity; and the singer Julio Acconci holds solo painting exhibitions, earning the nickname "Macao's Renaissance man".
Placed side by side, these names reveal the depth of Macau's visual art — from the old Macau under a Western painter's brush to contemporary artists rethinking East and West. Drawing on public sources, this series focuses on their Macau roots and creative achievements.
Mio Pang Fei
A modern artist born in Shanghai who put down roots in Macau and is regarded as a pioneer of Macau modern art. After moving to Macau in 1982 he developed "Neo-Orientalism", fusing Eastern tradition with Western contemporary techniques, and in 2015 was chosen by the Macao Museum of Art to represent Macau at the 56th Venice Biennale.
Ung Vai Meng
A Macau-born artist and cultural administrator. An award-winning visual artist, he also served as the founding director of the Macao Museum of Art (1999–2008) and as President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (2010–2017), shaping Macau's art development and cultural policy; he returned to his own art after retiring.
Carlos Marreiros
Carlos Marreiros (b. 1957, Macau) is a Macanese architect, urban planner, painter, and cultural figure. A graduate of the Lisbon fine-arts academy's architecture department, he has designed buildings across Macau, Hong Kong, and Portugal and was responsible for the Macau Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. A long-standing advocate for Macau's heritage, he turned the Holy House of Mercy's Albergue SCM into a cultural and arts venue, and stands as a leading figure of Sino-Portuguese cultural exchange.
Julio Acconci
A Macau-born singer, actor and painter who, with his twin brother Dino Acconci, formed the rock duo Soler (known in Taiwan as 太陽系). The pair debuted in Hong Kong in 2005 and won a Best New Group gold award. Son of an Italian architect based in Macau and a Karen (Myanmar) mother, he also acts and holds solo painting exhibitions, and has been called "Macao's Renaissance man".
