These works are full of family history: They include a self-portrait of the artist in his 40s, portraits of family members and a picture of their old family home in a kampung in Punggol.

But the Chee family made the sacrifice to the national collection because of the 'historical value' of the paintings.

Says Mr Choey Kwok Cheong, 68, the fourth of the late artist's five children: 'Although we were reluctant to give up the paintings, our family decided that the works deserve to be seen by more people instead of being cooped up in our home.'

Chee Kiang Siong was born in China's Guangdong province in China in 1910. He moved to Singapore in his teens, after some brief travel in Vietnam, in search of a better life.

He specialised in portraiture in oil and pastels, and opened a studio here during the Japanese Occupation painting portraits of the Japanese and other wealthy people in a time when photography was not available readily.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!