Dương Bích Liên (1924-1988) was a quiet talent in Vietnamese fine arts. Through his unique, simple creations, he, along with painters Nguyễn Sáng, Nguyễn Tư Nghiêm, and Bùi Xuân Phái, established an important quartet in modern Vietnamese fine arts.
Dương Bích Liên was born on July 17, 1924, in Hanoi into a family with a tradition of Confucianism. From a young age, he displayed a talent for painting and a burning passion for drawing. In 1944, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, becoming a student in its final class. From there, Vietnamese fine arts gradually welcomed another brilliant talent.
Figure 1: Renowned painter Dương Bích Liên (1924 – 1988)
During the French resistance period (1946-1954), many intellectuals and artists participated in resistance activities, and Dương Bích Liên was among them. He worked with Phạm Văn Khoa’s theater troupe, joined Nguyễn Xuân Khoát’s art group, and became part of the resistance culture team with artists like Tô Ngọc Vân and Thế Lữ, producing the Vệ Quốc Đoàn newspaper. He was also among the artists who traveled to Việt Bắc to paint Hồ Chí Minh in the spring of 1952. One of his paintings of Hồ Chí Minh, “Hồ Chí Minh in Việt Bắc,” was recognized as a “national treasure” in 2017. Additionally, some of his realistic paintings depicting the resistance and nation-building life, such as “Children Going to Reclaim Land,” “Night Study,” “Night March,” “Girl in White,” “Golden Afternoon,” “Harvest Day,” and “Trench,” left a significant impact on art enthusiasts.
Figure 2: Lacquer painting “Hồ Chí Minh in Việt Bắc” (1980). National Treasure, currently housed at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.
Dương Bích Liên’s art reflects the soul of a sensitive person. He contributed a new perspective to Vietnamese fine arts with his realistic-romantic style, harmoniously balancing Western intuition with the sensitive inner world of Vietnamese roots. Through extensive research, he experimented with various materials from charcoal and oil paint to lacquer, making his name with emotive portrait paintings, particularly of young women.
Figure 3: A work by Dương Bích Liên drawn with pencil and wax on paper, depicting the portrait of painter Nguyễn Dung’s daughter-in-law in 1977.
Oil painting by Dương Bích Liên titled “Portrait of Linh Cầm”
Figure 5: Oil painting by Dương Bích Liên titled “Mai”
In this realm of Vietnamese fine arts, he has long been a leading figure and is the most well-known. His portraits of young women are a culmination of his ideals and aesthetics, drawing inspiration from friends and relatives in daily life. It is a simple light derived from pure inspiration, borne out of a sensitive soul dedicated to artistic labor.
Painter Dương Bích Liên passed away in 1988, but his artistic world remains. He once said, “Life does not understand me, and I do not understand life, so I shrink myself,” yet despite his solitude, his art retains a distinct spirit and sincere emotions. For his contributions to national art, he was posthumously awarded the Hồ Chí Minh Prize in the second round in 2000.
Lê Quang
