After the painting Portrait of Miss Phuong held a price of 3.1 million USD in April 2021, the Vietnamese art market has not been able to break this record. Auctions at the end of 2023 recorded a few beats slower in the price of Vietnamese paintings, even though they were paintings by famous artists from the Indochina College of Fine Arts.
A quiet year
In the 50th anniversary auction in the Asian market of Sotheby's (Hong Kong) auction house in early April 2023, the painting La famille dans le jardin (tentatively translated: Family in the Garden ) by artist Le Pho was hammered for more than 2.3 million USD (after taxes and fees). This transaction figure makes many people expect to open record auctions for Vietnamese paintings in 2023, because this is also the second record in terms of price, only after Portrait of Ms. Phuong . However, although auctions with Vietnamese paintings at international auction houses still take place regularly in 2023, the estimated prices that make history, set new records... are completely absent.
The auction of “Vietnamese Fine Arts” at Bonhams on December 19, 2023, concluded a relatively quiet year for Vietnamese paintings. In this auction, there were works nearly a hundred years old by French painters, teachers at the Indochina College of Fine Arts - the generation that opened the door to Vietnamese painting, but the hammer price was not too exciting, although these works not only have academic artistic value, but are also a milestone in the history of domestic painting, but in terms of commercial value... it is probably not the right time.
Before this auction, Bonhams also chose a breakthrough and stimulating solution when changing direction, choosing a new Vietnamese artist as the next representative of the famous names of the Indochinese painter generation, with high commercial value. Many domestic collectors quite support this direction of Bonhams, analyzing: "Bonhams's diversity in names, painting styles and prices will have many opportunities to create new records"... However, in reality, the year 2023 ended with no record-breaking paintings.
The "golden hour" has come
At the “Modern & Provencal Pantings” session of the Maison R&C auction house in December 2023, there were 2 Vietnamese works that were expected in the session. They were The Lazy Girl by Le Pho (with a certificate of ownership established by Mr. Alain Le Kim, Le Pho’s son) and Two Young Women Wearing Ao Dai by Nguyen Khang. However, the liquidity of the paintings once again made many collectors hesitate. The Lazy Girl was sold in the session in July 2023 for more than 21 billion VND (including taxes and fees), but the selling price in the “Modern & Provencal Pantings” session was only more than 16 billion VND (including taxes and fees).
Many collectors and art investment consultants say that this price reflects the reality of the current art market. Many investors can accurately identify paintings with valuable - rare - high value elements, and bid for them at all costs, but when the work is in their hands, they cannot liquidate it, especially with works of greater value, they give up quickly... Because when liquidating it back to the auction house, the price will certainly be lower than the hammer price, and when looking for outside collectors, few people are willing to pay. This happens quite often, to the point that many auction houses have issued written warnings to their customers.
Collector Hoang Anh Tuan shared: “The sharp increase in prices of Indochina paintings can be partly explained by the fact that collectors are currently still attracted to works or authors whose values increase rapidly. The current market shows a slowdown through recent international auctions of Vietnamese paintings...”.
Although it is considered a rather quiet year in the art trading sessions, according to many market directors of auction houses, this is a good opportunity for old collectors and new ones to enter the market. The slowdown reflects the true value of the works, it is the "golden hour" for new collectors to be able to buy works at reasonable prices.
And after all the factors surrounding an auction such as the way the work is presented, advice from the auction house, art investment advisors..., the collector is the decisive factor in the market. The pause is to let Vietnamese works reach their true value and increase at a worthy level, not to inflate the price according to the "game" of a few big collectors.
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