From May 9 to 13, 2025, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi organizes the exhibition “Friends”. The exhibition gathers 8 painters from all three regions of the country, each bringing a unique visual voice, style, and characteristic creative material. The event calls on the public to contemplate the beauty of painting through the lens of friendship—from exchange, mutual support, to expressing camaraderie in art.
Introduction to the “Friends” Exhibition
The “Friends” exhibition at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum brings a colorful artistic space where eight painters from three regions of the country come together. The exhibition’s theme revolves around the idea of camaraderie and exchange in artistic creation. Each artist is an independent personality, but when standing side by side, the works create an open dialogue, reflecting the diversity and richness of contemporary Vietnamese fine arts.
The significance of the exhibition goes beyond introducing works; it emphasizes connections between people through art. Paintings are not just for viewing but serve as bridges to share emotions, memories, and personal experiences. The “friends” in the exhibition’s name carries meanings of professional friends, life friends, and spiritual friends of the public—those who find resonance in the works.
The purpose of the “Friends” exhibition is to honor diversity in creation and affirm that painting always has the ability to connect. Through the exhibition, audiences not only admire different techniques and styles but also feel the friendship, companionship, and shared joy that art brings.
- Time: May 09, 2025 – May 13, 2025.
- Location: Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hanoi.
- Participating Artists: 8 painters from three regions.
- Materials & Styles: Oil, silk painting, expressive style, bright light & colors, and many emotions.
Notable Artists Featured in the Exhibition
The “Friends” exhibition is a large painting pieced together from eight different artistic personalities. Each participating painter brings their own mark, from soft silk, vibrant oil, to lyrical imagery and architectural perspectives on the city. When present in one space, they create a multi-voiced conversation, where colors and materials intertwine, highlighting the richness of today’s Vietnamese painting.
Nguyen Thi Anh My
Born in 1972 in Hue, she is one of Vietnam’s prominent silk artists. With the work Paper Bird participating in this exhibition, Anh Mi continues creating on traditional silk but transforms techniques, colors, and material handling to retain silk’s soft, light elegance while adding a modern, expressive touch. Her works often evoke memories of Hue’s poetic landscapes, blending tradition with contemporary emotions.
Dinh Ngoc Thang
Coming from Ho Chi Minh City, Dinh Ngoc Thang brings to the exhibition the theme of Young Women and the Beauty of Spring using oil paint. His works stand out with vibrant colors, charming compositions, youthful and feminine expressions. He exploits the inner power of oil paint very well to convey light, fresh atmosphere, and expectations of youth.
Tran Anh Huy
Tran Anh Huy brings to the exhibition images of Hanoi through the symbols of the monuments: Khue Van Cac, Chua Mot Cot, O Quan Chuong… Born in Hue, studied architecture, and lived in Saigon, Huy has a perspective that is both familiar and puts himself between the ancient and the new features of the city. With an impressive color palette, contrasting light and darkness, Huy turns the monuments into memorable images, both carrying historical implications and a way to love modern Hanoi.
Tran Dinh Long Van
As one of the youngest faces of the exhibition, born in 2000 in Hanoi, Tran Dinh Long Van brings a new source of energy to Friends. His works show a liberal and free perspective in expression, with a bright color palette and a modern way of exploiting lines. Despite his young age and career, Long Van has shown his sensitivity to life, bringing a youthful and lively atmosphere to his paintings, contributing to the balance and dialogue with the previous generation of artists.
Space & Display Method of the “Friends” Exhibition
The “Friends” exhibition is displayed in the dignified space of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum. The layout is designed with an open arrangement, allowing each artist a separate area for their works to “breathe” and showcase personal styles. At the same time, the seamless arrangement between zones creates a common flow, helping viewers sense the overarching idea: from traditional soft silk, vibrant oil to expressive symbolic forms, abstraction.
The exhibition’s highlight is the diversity of materials and color usage. Viewers can move from the light, pure feel of Nguyen Thi Anh Mi’s silk paintings to the strong, radiant oil of Dinh Ngoc Thang, then slowly savor the modern youthfulness in Tran Dinh Long Van’s paintings. The display creates reasonable distances between works, giving audiences time to pause, reflect, and let their eyes guide from one style to another without interruption.
Beyond visual factors, the exhibition evokes emotional experiences. Each work is not just viewed but like hearing the artist’s voice, cultural echoes, and resonance with viewers.
The “Friends” exhibition is not just an art event but evidence of friendship’s power in creation. There, differences do not create distance but become bonding glue, enriching the face of contemporary Vietnamese painting. For the public, this is a chance to admire many styles, expressions, while finding closeness and empathy through each work.
