Lê Phổ. Maiden and flowers. Ink and gouache on silk. 54.6×38.4 cm
On July 2, 2023, during the Modern & Contemporary Art auction of Sotheby’s in Singapore, Mai Trung Thứ’s masterpiece, ‘Mona Lisa’, created in 1956, dated 1958, ink and gouache on silk, 34.5×27.6 cm, lot 29, estimated: 130,000 – 200,000 SGD, sold at 304,800 SGD, equivalent to 5.4 billion VND. This is one of three paintings that Mai Trung Thứ was inspired by the great masterpiece Mona Lisa (1503-1506) by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). It can be seen that this is the most beautiful Mona Lisa of the three that Mai Trung Thứ created. Congratulations to the collector for owning this beautiful painting.
In this auction, lot 27, a composition by Lê Phổ ‘Jeune fille à la fleur – Maiden and flowers’, ink and gouache on silk, 54.6×38.4 cm, estimate 260,000 – 380,000 SGD, sold at 368,300 SGD, equivalent to 6.5 billion VND.
If it were you, which work would you prefer? In fact, each work has its own unique artistic value.
In terms of novelty, the painting ‘Maiden and flower’ is a very popular theme in Lê Phổ’s compositions. But this silk painting is beautiful, strange, valuable in ‘light blue’ colour scheme. Not only that, here, Lê Phổ used contours, it’s extremely rare with his style. The solid, light blue border around the main character creates a difference from most of Lê Phổ’s compositions.
The colour blue was used a lot by Lê Phổ, but ‘light blue, very light’ as in ‘Maiden and flowers’ is rare; adding a rare special contours made the painting surpass the price of the legendary ‘Vietnamese Mona Lisa’ by Mai Trung Thứ.
Art is like that. Collectors always have their own rationalities.
And certainly, ‘Jeune fille à la fleur – Maiden and flowers’ is coming to Việt Nam.
P/S: This is the golden time to buy beautiful Vietnamese paintings at a good price, true to its value.
Written by Viet Art View
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