Nguyen Gia Tri's painting auctioned for over two million USD

The program "In Search of Eternity: The Collection of Philippe Damas" organized by Christie's on the evening of March 29, with about 50 paintings on the theme of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. The Three Women (Three Women) reached the highest price at the event - equivalent to 53 billion VND. The selling price is more than four times the initial estimate of about 4 million HKD (13.1 billion VND). The artist painted the work in 1934, size 116.5 x 89.5 cm.

"Le Trois Femmes" by Nguyen Gia Tri. Photo: Christie's

At the event, another picture by Nguyen Gia Tri, Boat in Ha Long Bay reached 504,000 HKD (1.65 billion VND). All the paintings in the auction came from the collection of Philippe Damas, a Frenchman who lived in Asia for many years and is passionate about Southeast Asian culture. According to the auction house, the work was kept by artist Le Pho and exhibited at a museum in Belgium in 2002.

Auction program In Search of Eternity: The Philippe Damas Collection totaling 60.5 million HKD (nearly 7.8 million USD), including many paintings by French artist Joseph Inguimberty. In 1925, he accepted an invitation from Victor Tardieu - founder of the Indochina College of Fine Arts (now the Vietnam University of Fine Arts) - to teach decorative arts at the school. Joseph Inguimberty worked for more than 20 years, contributing to the birth of modern Vietnamese art.

Joseph Inguimberty's "Going to Market" fetched nearly HK$12.5 million ($1.6 million). Photo: Christie's

At the same auction, a series of works by famous painters Mai Trung Thu, Vu Cao Dam, Le Pho, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Nguyen Sang, To Ngoc Van, Bui Xuan Phai, and Nguyen Tien Chung were hammered from tens of thousands to about 4 million HKD (13 billion VND).

Nguyen Gia Tri Born in 1908 in Chuong My, Hanoi, graduated from the Indochina College of Fine Arts in 1936. He is one of the Four Great Masters of Vietnamese Painting: "First Tri, Second Van, Third Lan, Fourth Can". He held his first exhibitions in 1939-1940.

He is considered one of the leading painters in creating a new trend in lacquer art. He contributed to bringing Vietnamese lacquer to its peak with the combination of traditional Asian cultural elements of the Vietnamese people on lacquer material and Western academic painting methods.

In 1989, Nguyen Gia Tri was recognized by the Ministry of Culture as one of the contemporary artists who contributed to the development of modern Vietnamese visual arts. He died in Ho Chi Minh City in 1993. He was posthumously awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for Literature and Arts in 2012. The artist has two works recognized as national treasures: Spring Garden of Central, South and North at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts and Screen at Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts.

Outside the picture Three women , painting Village among banana trees by Nguyen Gia Tri was auctioned at 1.08 million USD, at the Drouot Estimations session in December 2022.

The number of Vietnamese paintings worth millions of USD peaked in the period 2020-2021. Of which, the painting Portrait of Ms. Phuong by famous painter Mai Trung Thu was hammered by Sotheby's for 3.1 million USD, making it the most expensive Vietnamese painting ever. However, since 2023, the global economy has faced many challenges, affecting the price of Vietnamese paintings on the international market.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/tranh-nguyen-gia-tri-duoc-dau-gia-hon-hai-trieu-usd-3350853.html