| There is nothing more beautiful than an | | | | Europe in Vietnamese paintings. However, it |
| artwork that stimulates aesthetic pleasure. | | | | is surprising to note that modern Vietnam |
| Such aesthetic experience acts as a catalyst | | | | artists still prefer to paint in the age of |
| to enhance our happiness. Earlier, the | | | | digital images and multimedia! Yet, if we |
| classical works of art drew heavily from | | | | analyze closely the environment in which the |
| nature's beauty. But of late, modern art work | | | | Vietnam artists live and work, we would |
| chiefly draws inspiration from the mundane | | | | conclude that painting suits the |
| life of man. In other words, modern art | | | | sensibilities of the Vietnamese artists as it |
| captures both material and the spiritual on | | | | incorporates the century-old cultural and |
| an equal plane. This trend of depicting the | | | | religious motifs of the people. Besides, this |
| various aspects of human life is clearly | | | | expression of art is most immediately |
| evident in the paintings of Vietnam. From a | | | | available to them. The European touch in |
| historical perspective, Vietnamese painting | | | | Vietnamese painting is by no means |
| is not a very old art form. It's been only | | | | accidental, but deliberate. A majority of |
| seventy years since the first official art | | | | Vietnamese painters love and appreciate the |
| academy of Hanoi, the Ecole de Beaux Arts, | | | | Western art and hence try to apply some of |
| opened its doors to local students. However, | | | | their techniques in their paintings so that |
| the cultural origin of Vietnamese painting | | | | the world would look up to them and give |
| dates back much further. There has been a | | | | equal weightage to Vietnamese art. The West |
| consistent effort on part of the Vietnamese | | | | has not inspired the subject matter of |
| people to devote themselves in serious | | | | Vietnamese paintings; rather the latter |
| artwork. When the first lessons in line, | | | | conveys the intricacies of the cultural and |
| drawing, anatomy and landscape painting were | | | | social life of Vietnam. Vietnamese artists, |
| offered in the early decades of the twentieth | | | | like other artists of the world, are moved by |
| century, the art students began taking | | | | their environment and have taken recourse to |
| inspiration from the religious and cultural | | | | a delicate way to voice their sentiments |
| background of Vietnam. These new learners of | | | | through color and poetic imagery. For a |
| art sketched their native villages and fellow | | | | great many years, Vietnamese painters |
| farmers in the canvas following the lacquer | | | | struggled to give free rein to their |
| and silk traditions. During the French | | | | expression on canvas. Lack of opportunities |
| colonial period, the students of art took to | | | | and adequate funds had created great |
| painting readily as they already possessed | | | | obstacles to the success and recognition of |
| the materials needed to create a painting. | | | | Vietnam painting. Scarcity of information |
| Once the means to convey their artwork was | | | | from the West set their imagination free and |
| secured, the new generation of painters began | | | | Vietnamese art thrived with luxuriance. |
| to produce an amazing variety of exquisite | | | | Overcoming all these obstacles, the Vietnam |
| paintings. The vision of the past has changed | | | | artists showed their skill to paint under any |
| but even today, artists of Vietnam keep on | | | | adverse circumstances. Their resilience and |
| drawing inspiration from the past. | | | | determination are clearly mirrored in the |
| Connoisseurs of art, especially from the | | | | originality and freshness of Vietnamese |
| West, often complain of the deep influence of | | | | paintings. |