Admire Vietnamese painting masterpieces
During the historic days of May, tens of thousands of tourists from all over the country flocked to Dien Bien, visiting historical sites associated with the glorious Dien Bien Phu Campaign, especially admiring the panoramic painting at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum. This is a monumental work of art, painted by nearly 200 young artists in oil paint, on canvas, in a 360-degree space, 132m long, 20.5m high, 42m in diameter with a total area of over 3,000m2.
The work consists of 4 sections, divided by theme. More than 4,500 characters are recreated in the painting, along with the majestic Northwest mountain scenery, vividly and realistically portrayed by the artists, combined with the art of installation, displaying artifacts, music, lighting... creating a complete whole, a panoramic picture of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, majestic, attractive, making a strong visual impression on domestic and foreign tourists.
Tourists visit the panorama at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum. Photo: Xuan Tu/VNA
Not only in Dien Bien, in Hanoi, the story of the panoramic painting at the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum also became a "hot" topic, when agencies and units organized a screening for the public and tourists of the capital to admire.
Accordingly, on May 4-5, the Ministry of Information and Communications coordinated with the Hanoi People's Committee to display the painting using 3D mapping technology at the Martyrs Monument (Hoan Kiem District). With a combination of techniques, colors, and vivid sounds, the display delighted many people in the country and international friends.
At the headquarters of Nhan Dan newspaper (71 Hang Trong, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi), the interactive exhibition of panorama paintings commemorating the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory takes place from May 6-12, 2024. Accordingly, visitors can admire the painting surrounding a circle with a diameter of 5.5m, a height of more than 3m and experience augmented reality (AR) technology with a 360-degree panorama model...
Miracle of Vietnamese fine arts
Evaluating the panoramic painting of Dien Bien Phu Victory, Chairman of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association Luong Xuan Doan affirmed that this is a “miracle” of Vietnamese fine arts. The painting is recreated by artists realistically, vividly, and emotionally, creating a grandiose, vivid history of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.
Sharing the idea of making the painting, artist Nguyen Van Mac, Director of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Company, the "conductor" of the art project, said that as a lover of Vietnamese culture and history, he is always proud of the great Dien Bien Phu Victory of the nation. In 2013, fate brought him to Dien Bien to participate in the exhibition of artifacts at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum. At that time, the museum had just been built, and the design included a large area for painting, he liked it so he nurtured the idea of painting this picture.
Upon returning, artist Nguyen Van Mac and his colleagues made an outline, searched for relevant sources of documents at home and abroad; organized field trips, searched for historical witnesses, consulted with scientists, historians... Besides finding documents in museums, libraries, and archives, he also visited the archives of VNA many times and found many valuable documents, including news reports and images related to the campaign. After that, he and his colleagues selected and linked together sources of documents and images, and built an outline for the work.
After nearly 3 years of making outlines and sketches, in 2018, when the nearly 100m2 sketch was completed, he invited representatives of Dien Bien province to see it. The provincial leaders found the painting very interesting, so they agreed to the sketch proposal and established a National Arts Council, including painters, sculptors, architects... to evaluate and give comments on the painting. "In 2019, after receiving the approval of the Arts Council, Dien Bien province signed a contract to implement the project and the artists started to implement it. By 2022, the work was completed and introduced to the public," artist Nguyen Van Mac recalled.
The completed painting, loved by professionals and the public, became a masterpiece and the pride of Vietnamese fine arts. The work won many major awards such as First Prize - Vietnam Fine Arts Association Award 2022; Award of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations 2022; Award for composing and promoting literary, artistic and journalistic works on the theme of Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style in the period of 2021-2023 of the Central Propaganda Department.
Looking at the results of his and his colleagues' labor after nearly 10 years of perseverance, artist Nguyen Van Mac was extremely moved and proud. He said he was very happy to see that the work had expressed and conveyed the spirit and great value of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. And he was even happier when, through the process of creating the painting, he realized that young artists were not indifferent to history.
“Most of the artists I invited to participate in the painting are around 25-30 years old, the oldest is no older than 35, although they have never experienced the smell of bombs and war, but the artists have successfully recreated the Dien Bien Phu Victory through the art of painting. If they do not have patriotism, do not love the history of the nation, how can young artists hold a pen and draw such wonderful strokes?”, artist Nguyen Van Mac affirmed.
Stories just told
Painter Nguyen Van Mac proudly boasts that the masterpiece of painting about the Dien Bien Phu Campaign is 100% “made in Vietnam”. The entire work is the effort, the hands and minds of Vietnamese artists, without any machines, nor the participation of any foreign experts or artists. This is a great success and pride of Vietnamese fine arts. That affirms that Vietnamese artists are very talented, able to create excellent works of art.
One of the factors contributing to the success of the work is the music that accompanies the work. But very few people know that the background music used in the space of the panorama painting was selected and composed by Associate Professor, Doctor, musician Do Hong Quan - Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations.
Musician Do Hong Quan said that more than 2 years ago, he was invited by artist Nguyen Van Mac, who was in charge of the project, to participate in designing the background music in the space displaying the work. He and musician Duc Trinh (Chairman of the Vietnam Musicians Association) came to observe the artists' process of creating the work many times. After that, the two musicians worked together to find motifs and choose suitable musical works so that music and painting could go together in this special art space.
Initially, he composed the music for about 30 minutes, but when it came to reality, he realized that if the music was too long, it would not be suitable for the listener, so he shortened it to 16 minutes.
According to musician Do Hong Quan, there have been many good songs written about Dien Bien such as “Ho keo phao” by musician Hoang Van, “Qua mien Tay Bac” by musician Nguyen Thanh, especially the collection of 3 songs “Hanh quan xa”, “Tren doi Him Lam” and “Giai phong Dien Bien” by musician Do Nhuan…, but he only selected and used a few lines from those songs. The remaining many sections in the 16-minute song were composed by him and were mainly instrumental.
Musician Do Hong Quan calls the music he wrote for the circular painting a “multi-chapter symphony”. The names of the chapters are also the names of the sections in the painting. “This is the first circular painting in Vietnam and also the first major work of art combining painting and music in Vietnam”, musician Do Hong Quan shared.
According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper
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