Saigon Fine Art
The Experience
I have visited the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum a number of time and, for a a South East Asian Art Gallery, it is a very good experience and I recommend it. The best way to approach this museum is to walk there from your hotel, or guesthouse so that the museum has context… you are not visiting a Louvre, the MET, nor the Uffizi Gallery… you are in Vietnam and with this mindset you can appreciate what this art gallery offers. With an appreciation for Vietnam’s history, culture and people the museum come alive and reveals itself as a wonderful porthole into Vietnamese creativity, culture and their amazing ability to overcome adversity, remain true to themselves and have an strong connection to the art movements in recent history. This museum is rustic and to make it work you need to be proactive, observant and open-minded. Nothing will be handed on a platter here… you wont get any AC, nor colour well design guide nor map and no hand-held spoken guide… you need to be active. If you love art, love learning and discovering, love culture and are open-minded… you trip to the Hồ Chí Minh City Museum of Fine Arts will be very rewarding. My rating: ★★★★
The Art
This is a wonderful place for those who are keen on Asian and Vietnamese arts and culture. There is an abundant collections of artworks of Vietnamese artists including paintings and sculptures of Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese artists. Vietnamese artists displayed include: Trinh Cung, Do Quang Em, Diep Minh Chau and Nguyen Gia Tri.
https://www.vietnamonline.com/attraction/fine-arts-museum-ho-chi-minh-city.html
Hồ Chí Minh City Museum of Fine Arts Building
The building that houses the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts is remarkable and fascinating. The building became the museum in 1987, however, it was originally constructed between 1929 and 1934 as the Saigon headquarters of the Société Immobilière Hui Bon Hoa, which was owned by the Chinese-born businessman affectionately known as Uncle Hoa (1845–1901). Hoa was renowned for his wealth as one of the four richest men in Vietnam, and the building at 97 Rue Alsace Lorraine (now Pho Duc Chinh street) served as the family’s residence and place of business. Its architecture exemplified the style of French colonial design, an attempt to meld elements of Art Deco with local decorative motifs and spatial principles.
Unfortunately, little is known about what transpired with the family as the country experienced partition into the states of North and South in 1954, full-blown warfare in the 1970s, and, finally, the fall of Saigon to northern Viet Minh forces in 1975, unifying Vietnam as a communist nation and changing the southern capitol’s name to Ho Chi Minh City. To this day, however, rumors abound that the ghost of Hoa’s daughter haunts the former residence, an urban myth that became the subject of a 1973 film, Con Ma Nha Ho Hua (The Ghost of the Hua House).
Being one of the largest fine arts centers of Vietnam, The Fine Arts Museum showcases yellow-white grand colonial-era mansion is a combination of French and Chinese styles which brings about a typical colonial feeling. The building is considered as a masterpiece itself by most people and well worthy of a visit.
Hồ Chí Minh City Museum of Fine - Arts 97A Phó Đức Chính, Phường Nguyễn Thái Bình, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
baotangmythuattphcm.com.vn | https://goo.gl/maps/cddTEVV1W5DSJTJv8 | https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/map/biography-building-ho-chi-minh-city-museum-fine-arts
