Timeless change: Live Peacefully, Little Hang (top) and Idyll – two of the rare paintings by Mazurek portraying people. An exhibition showcasing paintings on the artist's visit to Viet Nam last October will open to the public tomorrow.

HA NOI — Polish painter Franciszek Ryszard Mazurek has been inspired by the peaceful landscapes of Viet Nam to create a series of paintings that will be presented in an exhibition opening in Ha Noi tomorrow.

Entitled Landscapes of Viet Nam, the exhibition will showcase 33 paintings which are the result of Mazurek's travels to the country last October.

Transferring observations of the ordinary onto canvas, Mazurek's paintings suggest humility in the face of the passage of time. They preserve the characteristics of a particular place in an ever-changing landscape, present not only the beauty of the land but also a world of memories and emotions.

Mazurek's vivid strokes bring freshness to the familiar landscape of some famous tourist spots in Ha Noi and neighbouring areas, including the Tran Quoc, Tay Phuong and Thay pagodas and Ha Long Bay, its immensity of cliffs mirrored in water transferred into his artworks. Mazurek says the Hong (Red) River, the symbol of Ha Noi, inspired him to create Boundlessness.

The artist also captured the daily activities of rural people, including women laundering clothes by the riverside and farmers harvesting rice.

"I had a strong impression when I saw a farmer working on his field," Mazurek said. "I just felt that I needed to depict this scene. It was very natural to create the painting even though I very seldom portray people in my paintings," he said about the painting Idyll.

Before visiting Viet Nam, Mazurek said he knew the country quite well through books, films and stories. He was also deeply impressed by a documentary about the American War in Viet Nam. So, when he met a little girl in the northern town of Sa Pa, he decided to depict her in a painting that he called Live Peacefully, Little Hang.

Mazurek exhibited his paintings of the Lublin region in eastern Poland in Ha Noi last October. A graduate of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, the 61-year-old painter has held more than 30 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions in Poland, Ukraine, Germany, France, the United Arab Emirates, Moldavia, Romania and Belgium.

Hosted by the Polish embassy, the new exhibition will continue through Saturday at the Exhibition House at 29 Hang Bai Street in Ha Noi. Admission is free. — VNS