According to Sotheby's auction house, ‘Figures in a Garden’, which is a three-panel work originally shown at a 1973 exhibition in Palm Beach, was sold for nearly six times the pre-sale estimate.

The oil-in-canvas painting, whose size is 75x209cm, had belonged to a private American collector. Le Pho’s signature in both Vietnamese and Chinese can be seen at the lower right of the painting.

This marks the second highest price ever paid for a piece of Vietnamese art.

Previously, Mai Trung Thu’s oil painting on canvas entitled ‘Portrait de Mademoiselle Phuong’ (‘Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong’) was also auctioned in Hong Kong for a record price of US$3.1 million in April 2021.

Le Pho was a prominent Vietnamese painter who developed a successful and prolific career in France, with thousands of artworks to his credit. His works are keenly hunted by art collectors all over the world.

He is also the first Vietnamese artist to have paintings sold for US$1 million and beyond at public auctions. Some of his typical artworks are include ‘The Family Life’ which went for over US$1 million, ‘Nude’ which sold for US$1.4 million, and “A self-portrait in the forest” which was sold for US$1.052 million.

Source: VOV