Thieu Nu Ha Noi (Hanoian Girl) by Van Len is among artworks on display at an exhibition in the HCM City Museum of Fine Arts.

HCM CITY (VNS)– An ongoing exhibition at the HCM City Museum of Fine Arts offers visitors a rare chance to contemplate priceless works by big names from Vietnamese painting.

The exhibit, Nhung Tac Pham Quan Trong Va Vo Gia Cua Hoi Hoa Viet Nam Hien Dai (Valuable Artworks of Modern Vietnamese Painting), presents paintings by most of the famous painters who graduated from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine (Indochina College of Fine Arts) during 1925-45.

Those painters, including Luong Xuan Nhi, Nguyen Do Cung, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Van Ty, were founders of the modern Vietnamese painting school. Many of their paintings portray the anti-French resistance war (1947-51) and anti-American resistance war (1967-71) as well as the daily activities of the people in the northwestern region of the country (1958-63).

Highlights include the 4m by 2.2m oil-on-canvas painting General Tran Hung Dao Conducts the Bach Dang Battle by late painter Nguyen Cao Thuong, who was recently granted the National Award for his great contribution to Vietnamese fine arts, and the 1943 sketch Thieu Nu Ben Hoa Hue (Girl by Lily) by To Ngoc Van. Unlike the famous oil-on-canvas copy, the one displayed at the exhibition is a watercolour.

All the paintings come from the private collection of Thai art collector Tira Vanichtheeranont.

Work by modern painters including Pham Luc, Pham Luan and Pham Thanh Liem will also be on display.

The exhibition runs until January 22 at 97 Pho Duc Chinh Street, District 1. – VNS