Exhibition of King Ham Nghi's paintings at Hue Imperial City

The event will take place during the time Hue City hosts the National Tourism Year, combined with Hue Festival 2025, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the City's Liberation Day (March 26, 1975 - March 26, 2025).

Taking the pen name Tu Xuan - "Son of Spring", King Ham Nghi has confided in art his nostalgia for his homeland and his desire to transcend time. 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 back King Ham Nghi's paintings.

The exhibition “Sky, Mountain, Water | Allusive Panorama” not only opens the door to the public to the exiled emperor’s artistic legacy, but is also a dialogue between the past and the present, where colors and lines revive an artist’s soul amidst the flow of history. For the first time, 21 precious paintings by King Ham Nghi, gathered from 10 private collections, will be officially displayed to welcome art lovers from all over the country.

For the first time, 21 precious paintings by King Ham Nghi are on display to welcome 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 - 5th generation descendant of King Ham Nghi, and many leading domestic and foreign art units and partners.

Each painting opens a piece of the inner world of King Ham Nghi. Sharing about the significance of the exhibition, Mr. Hoang Viet Trung - Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center shared that the retrospective of the artworks created by King Ham Nghi at Kien Trung Palace 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.

"To have this exhibition, we would like to thank and appreciate Art Republik Magazine, Dr. Amandine Dabat - Art History Researcher, 5th generation descendant of King Ham Nghi and the French Institute in Vietnam, for their effective coordination over the past time. Hopefully, the exhibition will help the public better understand the life and art of the patriotic king" - Mr. Trung emphasized.

Delegates and visitors view paintings by King Ham Nghi at the exhibition.

This exhibition not only marks an important milestone in the journey of heritage preservation, but also serves as a cultural bridge between the two countries. 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 and Director of the French Institute in Hanoi, expressed his enthusiasm for future cultural cooperation. According to the Director of the French Institute, 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 the loneliness, resistance and 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.

The exhibition "Sky, Mountains, Water | Allusive Panorama" will run until April 6, 2025.

Thuy Nhung

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/trien-lam-tranh-cua-vua-ham-nghi-tai-dai-noi-hue-post543344.html