The painting titled 'A Couple', took Tan Swie Hian almost 5 years to complete and will be donated to NLB. It was inspired by a photograph of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Madam Kwa Geok Choo in Cambridge circa 1946. Tan started on the painting in 2009; however, in January 2013, a fire broke out at his Telok Kurau studio where the unfinished portrait was kept. The painting was damaged by water from the fire engines. Mr Tan finally completed the painting in 2014.