Georgette Chen Li Ying, born in China in 1906, pursued her art education in Paris, New York, and Shanghai. Her body of work is often categorized into three distinct phases: the French Period (1927–1933), the China-Hong Kong Period (1934–1948), and the Penang-Singapore Period (1949–1980). She rapidly developed a style of painting that documented and captured the spirit of Singapore in the immediate decades after the war. Deeply influenced by her surroundings, she created still lifes, portraits, and landscapes reflecting each stage of her artistic journey. After settling in Singapore in 1954, she taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts until her retirement in 1980.