Swirling hues: In a Carmen, an "alla prima" painting by Vasiliy Yasyuk.

HA NOI (VNS) — Belarusian people, culture and nature are being celebrated by a painting exhibition that opened yesterday in Ha Noi.

Marking the Belarus Cultural Days, the six-day exhibition showcases 70 paintings by remarkable artists.

The colourful oil paintings deploy the "alla prima" (Italian for "at once") technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to previous layers of wet paint.

Instead of building colours up with layers or glazing over an underpainted surface, the painting is completed while the paint is still wet. So an "alla prima" painting would be started and finished in one painting session.

This technique requires a fast pace of work, because the painting has to be finished before the first layers have dried.

Vasiliy Yasyuk has 20 of his paintings displayed at the exhibition.

He said he treasures the chance to introduce to Vietnamese people the beauty of his country.

"I expect that through my works, visitors get a glimpse into Belarus. You will understand a part of our culture, architecture and daily life, you will see how many seasons there are in Belarus and how different they are from each other. "

Yasyuk visited Viet Nam several years ago and was impressed by the Central Highlands city of Da Lat, where the weather is similar to his favourite Alps region.

He hoped that one day, Belarusian people would enjoy works by Vietnamese artists.

Belarusian Colours will run until Friday at the Culture and Arts Exhibition Centre, 2 Hoa Lu Street, Ha Noi.

Troupes to perform

Belarusian troupes will perform in the northern cities of Ha Noi and Hai Phong as part of Belarus Cultural Days, which will be held from November 2 to 7.

Artistes from two troupes, the I Zhinovich National Academic People's Orchestra of Belarus and Pesnyary, will perform at the Ha Noi Opera House on November 4 and the Hai Phong Opera House on November 5.

Established in 1930, the orchestra is one of the oldest musical groups of Belarus. It laid the foundation for the development of folk music. Its repertoire consists of more than 2,000 pieces of Belarusian folk songs and dances, the original works of Belarusian composers and Russian and foreign classical compositions, besides contemporary music.

The folk-rock band Pesnyary, also known as Pesniary, founded in 1969 by guitarist Vladimir Mulyavin, combines various types of music, but mostly plays Belarusian folk music with psychedelic rock elements. The band often uses lyrics from famous Russian and Belarusian poets of the past. Entry is by invitation only. — VNS