Exploring the Artistic Scene of Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

One of my plans in Kuala Lumpur was to explore art galleries and museums, similar to what I had done in Bangkok. In a way, I was in luck. On the other hand, I was not.

Let’s start with the bad news. Similarly to what happened in Georgetown, I struggled to understand opening days and times. Actually, just don’t trust anything you see online - websites aren’t updated frequently and their schedules seem to change quite a lot. And if for some reason a gallery was temporarily closed, this wouldn’t be disclosed anywhere online - so you’d get there just to face a closed door. Perhaps this was just my luck - or lack of it - but it was frustrating, especially when you made it all the way there just to be unable to enter.

The Ilham Gallery was one of them. I went all the way there just to be greeted by a “Closed for Maintenance. Please proceed to the Gift Shop” sign. The “Proceed to the Gift Shop” was even more unnerving - no, you can’t see any art, but you can do some shopping!

The National Art Gallery was another big hitter for me. I had seen online that it closed at 6pm. I get there just before 4pm, thinking I’d still have a couple hours to explore… I wasn’t even 10 minutes inside when I heard the voice on the speakers saying they were going to close within the next hour. The National Gallery in Kuala Lumpur is free to visit, but it is a little outside the centre. So you have to take the underground or an Uber. It was indeed disheartening as this place has a fantastic collection of works that I enjoyed perusing. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).