On the evening of June 2, marking the third anniversary of the passing of the late painter Tran Nguyen Dung, an exhibition entitled “Leisurely Days” opened at the Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ha Noi.
The exhibition introduces around 60 works in various materials, offering a relatively comprehensive glimpse into Tran Nguyen Dung’s artistic journey.
It also provides the public with an opportunity to gain closer access to a self-taught and reserved Ha Noi artist who devoted deep affection to Vietnamese life and culture.
Born in 1942, Tran Nguyen Dung was a native of Ha Noi. He came to painting at an early age. He studied at the “Tri Tri” studio of painter Luong Xuan Nhi from 1953 to 1954, before continuing at the “Sang tao (Creativity)” studio of painter Pham Viet Song from 1954 to 1958. He also worked at the Ha Noi Department of Culture and Information, producing propaganda paintings for many years. However, it was only after his retirement that his own artistic path truly opened up: freer, deeper and richer in inner colour.
Truong Thanh Tra, wife of painter Tran Nguyen Dung, recalled that he painted day and night, paying little attention to everyday concerns. While painting, he often listened to the music of Pham Duy, whose nostalgic melodies resonated with the inner world he pursued.
Perhaps that is why admirers of his paintings always find in them a sense of ease amid the rush of life. It is also why this exhibition is entitled “Leisurely Days”.
According to Phan Dai Thang, representative of Artnam Gallery, the organiser of the exhibition, “Leisurely Days” by the late painter Tran Nguyen Dung offers viewers a temporary step back from reality. In his paintings, bustling festivals still retain a sense of grace and tranquillity; young women appear gentle and elegant; and Ha Noi carries a leisurely, unhurried appearance.
Phan Dai Thang noted that Tran Nguyen Dung was among the few painters highly proficient in all materials. In lacquer, he showed persistence and discipline. In silk, there was softness, restraint and subtlety. With oil paint, his brushwork became more open and his colours stronger, especially in scenes of spring markets, Tet days and young women. What defines Tran Nguyen Dung’s artistic mark is the harmony between tradition and modernity, discipline and freedom, and brilliance and quiet depth.
Exploring “Leisurely Days”, art lovers are taken on an artistic journey connected by three spaces, which are also three prominent shades in Tran Nguyen Dung’s creative world.
The space themed “Festival Days” is the first stop, where viewers are brought back to the familiar rhythms of daily life in Northern villages, with the sound of festival drums, the colours of spring attire and streams of people moving through the scene.
The second space, themed “Ha Noi Young Women”, is where viewers can find the gentlest expressions in the artistic world of painter Tran Nguyen Dung.
“The Unhurried Street” is the final stop in the emotional journey of “Leisurely Days”, taking viewers back to an old Ha Noi: slow-paced, understated and steeped in reflection.
