Vietnamese paintings set new price level in world market

When the painting Folk Singers (Les Chanteuses de Campagne) by Nguyen Phan Chanh (1892 - 1984) was sold for 1.09 million USD at the Arts d'Asie auction by Sotheby's on June 14 in Paris, art researchers and collectors said that Vietnamese paintings now have a new price level.

This is the second work by Nguyen Phan Chanh to reach the million USD mark after The Tailors (Les Couturières) which was priced at 1.39 million USD on Christie's at the end of 2020. With this price, The Folk Singer has entered the top 20 Vietnamese paintings surpassing the million USD mark. Vietnamese works in the same auction session of Sotheby's Paris on June 14 were also sold at good prices: Fragrance of flowers (Parfum de Fleurs) - 1940 by Le Pho for 308,000 USD, By the window (La fenêtre) - 1952 by Mai Trung Thu for 90,000 USD, Portrait of an Indochinese boy (Buste de Jeune Indo-Chinois) - 1934 by Vu Cao Dam for 64,000 USD and Landscape of Tonkin (Paysage au Nord du Vietnam) - 1945 by a group of students of the Indochina College of Fine Arts for 77,000 USD.

Portrait of Miss Phuong by Mai Trung Thu is priced at 3.11 million USD

SOTHEBY’S

"Million-dollar Vietnamese paintings have become normal"

Mr. Ace Le, CEO of Sotheby's Vietnam, said that Nguyen Phan Chanh's Folk Singer is the first million-dollar Vietnamese painting in 2024, despite the generally gloomy situation in the past two years. According to Mr. Ace Le, from 2019 to now, every year the market has had at least one million-dollar Vietnamese painting transaction. Vietnamese paintings with large transaction values ​​are still concentrated entirely in the paintings of artists from the Indochina College of Fine Arts, far surpassing the ancient art, resistance or contemporary art segments. 2021 is the year with the most million-dollar paintings (9 works), followed by 2020 (4 works), 2022 (3 works), 2019 (2 works) and 2017 with 1 work.

Figure in the Garden by Le Pho, priced at 2.29 million USD

SOTHEBY’S

"The East-West blending painting style of artists from the Indochina College of Fine Arts has become a rare and unique value, so it is sought after by collectors," said art researcher Ngo Kim Khoi, adding: "Million-dollar paintings by Vietnamese artists have now become normal. Hopefully, in the future, the record for the most expensive painting in Vietnamese art, Mai Trung Thu's Portrait of Miss Phuong, which was bought for 3.11 million USD, will be broken."

Who bought Vietnamese paintings for millions of dollars?

Mr. Khoi said that the Portrait of Miss Phuong and most of the other million-dollar paintings by Vietnamese artists are sought after by anonymous Vietnamese or Vietnamese-origin collectors. Curator Ly Doi said that Vietnam should have more than 100 million-dollar paintings today. Many collectors do not care about the price of the paintings, as long as the works have high liquidity, and for them, buying paintings is also a form of investment. The key is that many people are afraid of buying fake paintings, so they hesitate.

The Seamstresses by Nguyen Phan Chanh, priced at 1.39 million USD

SOTHEBY’S

"Most collectors choose Indochina paintings for investment because of their high liquidity and popularity. In the early 1930s, Indochina paintings appeared on the market and were bought and sold many times, so of course the price was pushed up. At the beginning of the 21st century, Vietnam had less than 100 collectors, but now there are more than 2,000 collectors, so the price of paintings will obviously increase. Of the 20 paintings priced over a million USD, more than 50% of them are currently in Vietnam," said Mr. Ly Doi. According to Mr. Ace Le, after the summer auction in Paris on June 14, Sotheby's will sell paintings in the fall, taking place around September or October in Hong Kong, China. "Of course there will be auctions of Vietnamese paintings, but the specific prices and paintings by which artists cannot be announced yet because there is still time to wait for consignment and appraisal. Sotheby's will announce it about 10-14 days before the sale opens," he added.

Top 20 Vietnamese paintings surpassing the million USD mark include: Portrait of Ms. Phuong (Mai Trung Thu) - 3.11 million USD, Shape in the Garden (Le Pho) - 2.29 million USD, Young Girl in Conical Hat by the River (Mai Trung Thu) - 1.57 million USD, Tailors (Nguyen Phan Chanh) - 1.39 million USD, Nude (Le Pho) - 1.39 million USD, Tea and Harmony (Le Pho) - 1.36 million USD, Young Girl with Peonies (Le Pho) - 1.36 million USD, Phnom Penh Landscape (Le Quoc Loc) - 1.31 million USD, Golden Sunset on Ha Long Bay (Pham Hau) - 1.25 million USD, Disillusionment (To Ngoc Van) - 1.16 million USD, Family Life (Le Pho) - 1.16 million USD, Young Girl in a Scarf (Le Pho) - 1.1 million USD, Folk Singer song (Nguyen Phan Chanh) - 1.09 million USD, Banana Villagers (Nguyen Gia Tri) - 1.07 million USD, Portrait in the Forest (Le Pho) - 1.05 million USD, Thay Pagoda Landscape (Pham Hau) - 1.03 million USD, Nude Bathing (Vu Cao Dam) - 1.03 million USD, Girl Playing the Moon-Guild (Mai Trung Thu) - 1 million USD, Sailboat Landscape (Pham Hau) - 1 million USD, Chem Communal House Festival (Nguyen Van Ty) - 1 million USD.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tranh-viet-lap-mat-bang-gia-moi-tren-thi-truong-the-gioi-185240617221504496.htm