In 1925, the Vietnam University of Fine Art was established, contributing to the birth of a distinctive and unique Vietnamese modern art which was liberal with ceaseless creativity by the first generation of artists who challenged themselves and went above and beyond with immortal works that left an indelible mark.

“The maiden and the Lily” by To Ngoc Van.

The most famous work of modern Vietnamese art is “Thieu nu ben hoa hue” (The Maiden and the Lily) by painter To Ngoc Van. The painting can be seen as a mark of the reception of the influence of French Impressionist painting on Vietnamese art.

By painting with thin layers of oil paint, a young woman in her twenties in a white dress, meditating beside lily petals, seemed to appear with the purity of her soul. The ingenuity of the painting is that the artist creates a closed curve between the flower and the arms, making the girl's face the center of the frame. There, the only red blush on the cheeks and lips renders the picture even more seductive. The influence of Impressionism here is that he depicts the moment and the generalization of the colors in which the predominant one is white: white on the shirt, white on the petals and even the bowl of full hues.

To Ngoc Van's “the maiden and the Lily” is an excellent work that acknowledges the acquisition of French painting as well as the oil painting materials of Vietnamese painters while still creating a very Vietnamese spirit.

“Goi dau” (Hair washing) by Tran Van Can.

“Goi dau” (Hair washing) by Tran Van Can with woodcarving materials is another work that is equally important to the development of Vietnamese graphic art. That is the influence of Japanese woodcarving.

It depicts a familiar image of a bare-chested woman stooping to comb her hair. With the delicate combination of white and green, the meticulous carvings shown on the long soft curling hair, the way the girl's fingers are shaped and the two roses peeking behind, we feel like this painting has radically escaped out of the influence of Dong Ho folk woodcarving.

Whilst this technique was learned from Japanese colored woodblock prints, it evokes the subtle simplicity of the Vietnamese soul.

Besides oil painting and woodcarving, lacquer painting is a brilliant achievement of early Vietnamese painting. In 1932, a series of works Lacquer paintings by Vietnamese painters made an indelible mark. In particular, the 8-panel mosaic “Girls in the garden” by Nguyen Gia Tri is a typical example.

“Girls in the garden” by Nguyen Gia Tri

On the background of splendid gilded paintings, young girls seem to appear in groups with segments far and near, creating a ‘fanciful reality’ look.

The painting is an important achievement of the skillful combination between the golden shaping style in traditional art and the modern shaping style.

The painting also recognizes the lacquer coating technique using egg shells to create bright white colors on the paintings, especially to blow a youthful glow on the faces of young girls.

Although the lacquer technique was relatively complete by the end of the 40s, most artists were still struggling in the palette of merely warm colors such as vermilion, metallic gold, black and cockroach brown.

Finding cold colors like green and blue seemed a far-fetched dream. In 1948, together with Nguyen Tu Nghiem, To Ngoc Van researched the color of green by dipping the Cape Jasmine into cockroach-coloured paint and was tested by him in the work “Chay giac trong rung” (flee to the forest).

Although this painting is somewhat unfinished, it is clear that the green color and the metallic silver paste on the background make the painting mysterious.

“Remembering a Northwest afternoon” by Phan Ke An.

By 1955, the green color in Phan Ke An's “Nho mot chieu Tay Bac” (Reminiscing a Northwest afternoon) seemed to have created extremely subtle color changes on the overlapping mountains.

Shades of yellow are no longer decorative, and glow like sunshine spreading all over the painting, forming a poetic and optimistic spirit of revolution both in painting and in shaping technique.

Following the discovery of a lacquer palette, the challenge for Vietnamese painters is to transform this medium into one that can reflect reality as well as oil paintings. And Nguyen Sang's work "Study hours" acknowledged that accomplishment.

There are only four figures on a vermilion background. It is plain that the artist has gone to great lengths to portray the light reflected on the back, face, cheekbones, and biceps, in the very same way that oil paintings depict the human body.

From “Study hours” to “Admission to the Party in Dien Bien Phu” by Nguyen Sang.

If showcasing reality in oil painting is difficult enough, having to paint it and then grind it out is ten thousand times more difficult with lacquer material.

This painting can be seen as a precursor to the birth of the most valuable work of Vietnamese revolutionary painting in 1963, “Ket nap Dang o Dien Bien Phu” (Admission to the Party in Dien Bien Phu.)

Ultimately, those who studied from the West and Japan, and then returned to study from their forefathers were able to carry on the tradition with these lacquer material discoveries.

It would be remiss not to mention paintings of ancient dances by Nguyen Tu Nghiem who also made significant contributions to the study of lacquer materials for contemporary Vietnamese painting.

“Ancient dance” by Nguyen Tu Nghiem.

The return to folk aesthetics infused new creative vitality into his works. His "old dance" inspired the village communal house carvings, which evolved into a new form of shaping.

The magnificent gilded strokes and the decorative pattern of arrays seem to return in his paintings, albeit in a different mood. It appears that the soul of the nation is imprinted on these folk girls, which blends seamlessly into European cubism.

The undeniable accomplishments of Vietnamese painting works in their development process were a new breath, a new vitality, and a new face.

That generation of master painters including To Ngoc Van, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, and others changed the history of Vietnamese fine art spectacularly with their long-lasting works.

Trang Thanh Hien

Vietnamese paintings return to homeland

The painting "Madame Phuong" by painter Mai Trung Thu recently sold for US$3.1 million, a high point in Vietnam’s cultural life.