King Ham Nghi's precious painting is introduced for the first time in Vietnam.

The King Ham Nghi Painting Exhibition with the theme of Sky, Mountains, Water | Allusive Panorama, co-organized by Art Republik Vietnam magazine, Hue Monuments Conservation Center and French Institute in Vietnam, took place from March 25 to April 10, within the framework of the National Tourism Year, Hue Festival 2025 and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Hue City (March 26, 1975 - March 26, 2025), welcoming Hue to become a centrally-governed city.

Many valuable paintings by King Ham Nghi are displayed in Vietnam for the first time.

Precious painting heritage

In his paintings, former Emperor Ham Nghi used the pen name Tu Xuan (Son of Spring). King Ham Nghi expressed in his art his nostalgia for his homeland and his desire to transcend time.

According to the exhibition organizers, over the past 15 years, King Ham Nghi’s paintings have appeared on the French art market, mainly from private collections, descendants of friends to whom he had given paintings. It was from here that Vietnamese collectors began to discover and bring his paintings back.

Kien Trung Palace (Hue Imperial City) is the venue for the exhibition Sky, Mountains, Water | Allusive Panorama.

The exhibition Sky, Mountains, Water | Allusive Panorama not only opens the door to guide the public back to the painting heritage   of the exiled emperor, but also a dialogue between the past and the present, where colors and lines revive an artistic soul amidst the flow of history.

For the first time, 21 precious paintings of King Ham Nghi gathered from 10 official private collections are on display to serve art lovers from all over the country.

This is the result of a journey of more than a year of tirelessly tracing the traces of time, searching, confirming, appraising, and strictly restoring according to international standards by curator Ace Le and Lan Tinh Foundation, in collaboration with Dr. Amandine Dabat - the 5th generation descendant of King Ham Nghi, and many leading domestic and foreign art units and partners.

In addition, this is also the first art exhibition at Kien Trung Palace, Hue. In the newly restored space on the second floor of Kien Trung Palace, visitors have the opportunity to embark on a difficult journey with the exiled emperor's deep homesickness and love of nature.

Through the paintings of King Ham Nghi, it can be seen that he did not paint memories of the royal court, but found solace in the vastness of nature, through images of silent mountains, sturdy trees, vast lakes or endless free skies. Each painting opens a piece of King Ham Nghi's inner world, such as Vue de la résidence d'El Biar (View of the Residence at El Biar) depicting the place where he used to live in Alger, a peaceful corner in the midst of exile.

Landscape with Cypresses (Menthon-Saint-Bernard) (1906) is an image of the French countryside, which he visited during his travels, expressing the intersection between reality and nostalgia for home. Meanwhile, Wooded Shore (Lake Geneva) (1920) has a quiet tone, with colors   rich in depth evoking the artist's mood before the vastness of nature.

The organizers hope the exhibition will help the public better understand the life and art of the patriotic king .

Sharing about the significance of the exhibition, Mr. Hoang Viet Trung - Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, emphasized: "The retrospective of the artworks created by King Ham Nghi at Kien Trung Palace (Hue) is not only an emotional reunion between art and history, but also a profound gratitude to the exiled king who did not lose his homeland. Hopefully, the exhibition will help the public better understand the life and art of the patriotic king".

UNIQUE combination of artistic talent and love of country

According to the organizers, this event is also a vivid demonstration of the close cooperation between France and Vietnam in the cultural field. Mr. Franck Bolgiani - Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy, ​​Director of the French Institute in Hanoi and Deputy Director of the French Institute in Vietnam, expressed his enthusiasm for future cooperation in cultural development.

“King Ham Nghi was not only an emperor but also one of the first Vietnamese artists to be formally trained in Western painting. By combining French academic techniques with a deep love for nature and his homeland’s culture, he created extremely unique works, full of emotion and imbued with nostalgia. Each landscape painting is a subtle narrative about loneliness, resistance and the beauty of the Vietnamese soul. Through this exhibition, we have the opportunity to admire the artistic language of an emperor who, even in exile, knew how to revive the memories and culture of his homeland,” said Mr. Franck Bolgiani.

Sharing more about King Ham Nghi's painting talent, curator - art researcher Ace Le, who is also Editor-in-Chief of Art Republik Magazine - said that Ham Nghi's paintings are a unique combination of artistic talent and love for the country, where he expressed his nostalgia for his homeland and also contained a hidden resistance to the oppression during his exile.

"The former emperor painted the scene   but in fact, it is a painting of love, both personal and public love. This is the reason why I decided to title the exhibition Sky, Mountains, Water | Allusive Panorama, inspired by the poem of Ba Huyen Thanh Quan. Ham Nghi is a pioneer and typical example of the Asian-European art exchange approach, absorbing without dissolving, still holding high the flag of identity in its own way", Mr. Ace Le assessed.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tac-pham-hoi-hoa-quy-gia-cua-vua-ham-nghi-lan-dau-duoc-gioi-thieu-tai-viet-nam-post1727856.tpo