signed and dated lower right and affixed with a sticker numbered 37 on the lower left of the frame glazing
gouache on paper
71 x 103 cm, 105 x 136 (framed)
Provenance
Ex-collection Ha Thuc Can
Private Collection, Singapore
Literature
100 Years of Contemporary Paintings from Vietnam. Vietnam: Dong Son Editions, 1994. Illustrated on pg 37.
Condition
Painting appears to be in pristine condition commensurate with age. Gouache and paper layers looks in original and clean condition. Nothing shows up under UV light.
Lot location
Bangkok, Thailand. On display at 333 Gallery.
The Poetry of Silence
Born in 1924, Duong Bich Lien occupies a singular place within the history of modern Vietnamese art. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, he belonged to the celebrated quartet of twentieth-century Vietnamese masters alongside Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sang, and Nguyen Tu Nghiem. Renowned for his poetic sensibility and uncompromising devotion to painting, Lien produced deeply introspective works that favoured emotional truth over idealised representation.
Executed in 1974, Portrait of a Girl exemplifies the artist’s remarkable ability to convey quiet psychological presence through subtle gestures and restrained colour. Rendered in gouache on paper, the composition dissolves conventional portraiture into a delicate interplay of atmosphere and memory. The softly modelled figure appears suspended between presence and reverie, embodying the lyrical melancholy that has become synonymous with Lien’s oeuvre.
Rather than pursuing outward likeness, Duong Bich Lien sought to reveal the inner life of his subjects. His expressive brushwork and muted palette recall the intimacy of European Post-Impressionism while remaining deeply rooted in Vietnamese aesthetics. In this regard, Portrait of a Girl invites comparison with Pierre Bonnard’s The Bathroom (1925), where psychological atmosphere and emotional nuance take precedence over descriptive realism. Like Bonnard, Lien transforms an intimate human presence into a poetic meditation on memory and perception, yet his sensibility remains distinctly Vietnamese, shaped by the lyrical restraint and quiet introspection that define his oeuvre. Today, his portraits remain among the most sought-after achievements of modern Vietnamese painting, celebrated for their rare combination of technical refinement and profound emotional resonance.
