Smack in downtown Siem Reap near the Old Market and the river, the much-awaited museum is located in a three-floor building awash with natural light. The brainchild of two Siem Reap entrepreneurs behind Satcha, the traditional handicraft workshop and exhibition center, it opened without splash in April 2025, a labor of love still in-progress.
The works exhibited so far are private or public donations, on-lending artworks and rare pieces from the collection gathered for many years by Cambodian art lover and curator Pierre-André Romano.
The permanent exhibition acts as a memory bridge between eras, starting with the glorious but still to-be-explored golden age of modern art in Cambodia (1950s to the start of the 1970s), encouraged by the late King Norodom Sihanouk.
The works of pioneer masters such Svay Ken ស្វាយ ខេន (1933-2008) and Nhek Dim ឌី ព្រឿង (1960s-), followed by remarkable modernists Pech Song (b. 1948), You Khin (1947-2009 and Uch Savin (b. 1965), and more recently Lim Muy Theam, Ramya Chuon or Sam Yaul (b. 1970s), lead to the bold and thriving contemporary scene with young artists, several of them former students of the famed Phnom Penh (and now Siem Reap) Yamada School of Arts.
Some precious drawings by late architect Dy Proeung (Siem Reap 1936-2022), who drew for Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient (EFEO) and pursued his own research, are also on display.
[ស [pr. saa] in Khmer is the "s" consonant and also the adjective for "white," "clean," "unstained." ស្អាត [pr. saat] means "beautiful."]
Open every day 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM.
Entrance fees from USD 3,000 riels (0.75 USD) to 10,000 riels (2.50 USD).
