As one of the pioneering artists of the Nanyang art movement, Chen Wen Hsi stands as a giant in Singapore’s art history. Chen’s works enhances his traditional Chinese paintings with Western art styles deftly, retaining the essence of Chinese-style paintings without overrunning it with foreign influences. That the differences in Chen’s paintings dissolves imperceptibly into one another only demonstrates the substantial thought Chen had put into the subject, and his skill as an artist.

Ducks in Water shows shades of Chen’s understanding of shapes and perspective of Cubism, observed in the form of the ducks. The painting can be considered either from eye-level or from atop, without altering the viewer’s immersion. From the outset, one is instantly aware of the flatness of the subjects and the canvas it resides on, as the ducks lack depth and shadows. Yet the ducks display a surprising amount of solidity – a sense that they are ducks, than a two-dimensional illusion of a duck. By disassembling the subjects down to its constituent formal qualities of shape and color, Chen advanced beyond the expansive landscapes of Chinese paintings, bound by the need to imitate three-dimensions on a flat surface. Thus, what Chen gained was greater flexibility and expressiveness in perspective.

作為南洋藝術運動的先驅藝術家之一，陳文希是新加坡藝術史上的巨人。陳氏的作品結合西方藝術風格，巧妙地融合在自己傳統水墨畫的藝術作品中，在受到西方藝術風格的影響下保留了中國國畫的精髓。陳氏的繪畫将东西方差異的绘画特色潛移默化地融為一體，這就表明了他在主題方面的實質思想以及他作為畫家的技巧。

《鴨子戲水》充分展現陳氏對立體主義和物體形狀的理解及展現。這件作品無論是一般的視線水平或者是從上而下看都可以很自然地融入到畫中。雖說畫中的物體缺乏深度及陰影和構圖結合成一樣的平坦度，但是鴨群的肢體和飽滿的身型活靈活現；感覺他們就是正在戲水的鴨子而不是在二緯度的平面塗鴉。通過肢解鴨子的形體，利用顏色和留白重新架構的畫法，陳文希想展現的是超出水墨一直以來無法完成的平面三維感。因此，陳獲得的是更大的靈活性和表現力。