Van Duong Thanh - a son of Phu Yen who brings Vietnamese soul to the world

Van Duong Thanh is known as one of the talented painters in Asia, her works are collected by 16 national art museums around the world . Besides creating, the female painter also teaches at universities at home and abroad. She has also been actively involved in charity activities for many years.

Artist Van Duong Thanh always yearns for his hometown Phu Yen , expressed through his works as well as many activities. Photo: Contributor

 

In the living room of Van Duong Thanh Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi , we were impressed by the large painting on the wall of Ganh Da Dia, a national scenic relic in Phu Yen. The painting below is called Moonlit Night on the Sea, also a landscape of this locality. Even though she is far away, artist Van Duong Thanh's heart always turns to her birthplace. Every time she picks up a brush, memories of Phu Yen with its idyllic scenery and kind people appear in each stroke of her brush.

 

In the light-filled space of the gallery, the female artist with a heart and soul full of emotions, passionately talks about her artistic journey and her paintings.

 

Van Duong Thanh was born into a family of revolutionary intellectuals in Hoa Hiep Trung ward, Dong Hoa town. She is the daughter of martyr Van Goi (1920-1960, former Provincial Party Committee member, Secretary of Tuy Hoa District Party Committee, in charge of Office and Propaganda of Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee).

 

At the age of 7, Van Duong Thanh had already drawn pencil drawings on paper, which were praised and encouraged by his father, making him very happy. His father heroically sacrificed his life in 1960, when his daughter was only 9 years old. Van Duong Thanh was even more determined to fulfill his dream and his father's wishes.

 

Growing up and studying in Hanoi, Van Duong Thanh learned from master painters such as Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Nguyen Sang... and even critic Thai Ba Van. That knowledge is a valuable asset that has followed her throughout her creative career in the country as well as abroad.

Artist Van Duong Thanh teaches drawing to blind students. Photo: Contributor

 

MISSION TO PROMOTE VIETNAMESE CULTURE

 

At the age of 12, Van Duong Thanh studied at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. In 1980, she graduated from this school after 12 years of studying and working at the Institute of Cultural Research (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). After that, Van Duong Thanh was sent to study for a master's degree in Languages ​​in Sweden, and then became the first Asian lecturer to teach Fine Arts in Swedish. She is also the first Vietnamese artist to be loved and admired by students abroad, and an art association named after her - Thanh-Gruppen was established.

 

Not only is she proficient in painting techniques, artist Van Duong Thanh is also very creative in her compositions. Her paintings exude a unique light, creating a resonance in many countries around the world. Van Duong Thanh's paintings imbued with Vietnamese soul have been displayed in 16 national museums around the world, winning many prestigious awards.

Through painting, artist Van Duong Thanh has connected with ambassadors, diplomats and international friends, expanding friendly relations and being highly appreciated by them both in terms of painting and cultural diplomacy. Her more than 2,000 paintings and 112 solo exhibitions have left a mark on Vietnamese painting in the hearts of international friends. Not only creating, she is always concerned and worried about how to help those in poor situations to rise up.

 

Ambassador Nguyen Phu Binh, Chairman of the Association for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

 

Van Duong Thanh is also the first Vietnamese person to be invited to the CFM-Snecma international art program, USA - France twice in 1995, 1997 and is a character in the Honoring Vietnam program in 2007 at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, Hanoi. Many of her works were chosen by the State as gifts for heads of state when they visited Vietnam.

 

With a creative journey spanning from Vietnam to the world's art capitals, Van Duong Thanh not only paints works of art but also brings the cultural story of her homeland to friends around the world. There, she is not only a painter but also a storyteller, a cultural ambassador, a bridge of friendship. With each stroke of the brush, she not only paints but also writes beautiful pages of history about her homeland, people and art of Vietnam.

 

The female artist born in 1951 confided: “When expressing my love for my homeland through my paintings, I naturally convey that love to the viewers. Because the mission of art is to bring love and spread kindness to everyone, regardless of borders. The language of painting does not need translation.”

Painter Van Duong Thanh took a souvenir photo with Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Huy, Director of the Center for Heritage of Vietnamese Scientists (left) and Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Bich Ha at the event of Exhibition and Auction of Paintings Giving Love. Photo: Contributor

 

CULTIVATE ARTISTIC TALENTS

 

Orphaned at a young age, Van Duong Thanh's 8 siblings were raised and educated to become talented by their mother Nguyen Thi Xich with great determination... Therefore, the female artist and her family always want to help many people in difficult circumstances, especially students, so that they have the opportunity to develop their talents.

 

Over the past 50 years, artist Van Duong Thanh has taught painting in Sweden, France, Korea, China, Singapore and 3 universities in Vietnam. In addition to training talented people, she also teaches painting to disabled and autistic children, quietly spreading the beautiful and precious values ​​of painting to less fortunate children.

 

“For me, sharing my knowledge and experience of decades in painting is very fun and easy. In addition to teaching special and talented children, I am very moved when teaching drawing to orphans and disabled children, including blind children. Even though they cannot see anything, they learn and draw very beautifully,” the female artist shared.

 

According to artist Van Duong Thanh, painting and music can heal and bring children joy, confidence and creativity, and many children have succeeded. That is her great joy. Many people wonder: How can blind children draw, and draw so beautifully? It is like compensation, their fingertips are very sensitive, they can feel and color very beautifully.

 

The Dream House painting contest has been organized by Vietnam Children's Magazine for the past two years, with more than 43,000 entries, including many visually impaired students of artist Van Duong Thanh winning high prizes.

Oil painting on canvas Happy Harp by artist Van Duong Thanh. Photo: Contributor

 

CHARITY HEART AND SPIRIT OF DEVOTION

 

The special event Exhibition and Auction of Van Duong Thanh's paintings - Sending love recently held in Hanoi is not only a place to share the artist's kindness and love with the people, especially children, who are trying to overcome difficulties and rebuild their lives after the storm, but also an opportunity for art lovers to have the opportunity to own unique and valuable works of art by Van Duong Thanh.

 

Each work contains a special creative story and represents the spirit of protecting the motherland, a beautiful life with hope and kindness. This exhibition is not only the artist's heart for his compatriots but also an opportunity to connect kind-hearted people through art to contribute to the community.

 

Palestinian Ambassador Saddi Salama, Head of the Diplomatic Corps in Vietnam, said: “I admire artist Van Duong Thanh. The Giving Love program demonstrates the sense of responsibility of a Vietnamese citizen towards his people and his country. That reflects the soul of a person who always thinks of others, is responsible not only for himself and his family but also for the whole community.”

 

In August and September 2024 alone, Van Duong Thanh also donated paintings to 5 charity auctions. At the charity gala organized by Vingroup, artist Van Duong Thanh donated 2 works in the Phu Yen Blue Sea Painting Series to auction and raised 160 million VND to build a school for children in Nu village (Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province).

 

Many of Van Duong Thanh's paintings were also auctioned to raise funds to build schools, support orphanages and disabled children's centers, award Van Goi scholarships, build houses of gratitude for martyrs' families, and give gifts to lonely elderly people in recent times... making Van Duong Thanh's success even more meaningful.

 

Van Duong Thanh also organized a non-profit gallery with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for 3 years in Hanoi, donating 50 paintings to auction for charity programs. In 6 years, the female artist contributed 12 paintings to auction to donate scholarships to poor Vietnamese students through a US organization. Notably, in the international concert program Watching the World in 2019, Van Duong Thanh spent 270 million VND from the auction of 3 works to support surgery costs for sick children.

 

Three years ago, the Van Goi Scholarship Fund and artist Van Duong Thanh donated the “Homeland Sea” collection with 15 paintings and art photos to Phu Yen Museum. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the artist also sent rice and gifts to poor students in her hometown as well as in other provinces and cities across the country.

 

INCUBATING OPENING A CREATIVE CAMP IN HOMETOWN

 

In 2025, Van Duong Thanh will have two solo exhibitions in Hanoi, displaying a number of works about Phu Yen. And the dream of the son of Phu Yen is to coordinate with the provincial authorities to organize an international painting camp in Tuy Hoa City. Van Duong Thanh and the ambassadors will select and invite artists from countries such as France, the US, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Korea, China... and a few famous Vietnamese artists.

 

According to artist Van Duong Thanh, the creative camp will be an opportunity for art lovers and Phu Yen artists to meet famous international artists, while promoting tourism, introducing beautiful images of Phu Yen's nature, introducing craft villages, ancient architecture, villages of ethnic minorities, and the potential of folk music here.

 

At the end of the camp, each international artist will choose a work to donate to Phu Yen to enrich the collection of Phu Yen Museum. Each artist will be an ambassador for Phu Yen when returning to their country. That is the deep and wide promotion that art brings.

 

Perhaps, the greatest success of female painter Van Duong Thanh is not only in the awards but also in the fact that she has touched the hearts of viewers, bringing them closer to the beauty and soul of the Vietnamese people.

Artist Van Duong Thanh confided that what she has today is thanks to the teachings of her parents. They are people who have contributed to the nation's long and heroic resistance war, and are an example for her to study and work tirelessly. Her father, martyr Van Goi, was awarded the First and Second Class Resistance Medals, and was posthumously awarded the Second Class Independence Medal. In 1950, he was captured by the French and imprisoned for 4 years. In prison, he still promoted his patriotism as a party cell secretary. Before being executed, he successfully escaped to the North and then became a "suicide cadre" volunteering to go to the South to continue fighting. Mother Nguyen Thi Xich was also awarded the Second Class Resistance Medal.

 

BRIGHT MOON

Source: https://baophuyen.vn/76/325222/van-duong-thanh-nguoi-con-phu-yen-mang-hon-viet-ra-the-gioi.html