If we take the painting ‘Scenery of Đồng Văn’, painted in 1939 (the oldest work Viet Art View know) as a mark until the early 2000s, then over 60 years, he has created many hundreds of paintings, especially silk paintings. And most importantly, the theme throughout most of his works is inspired by his hometown of Bắc Ninh with “so many beautiful and peaceful customs of old memories”. Văn Thọ’s paintings before 1954 were “deeply influenced by the gentle, cheerful, childlike beauties drawn from the Đông Hồ woodblock world of his hometown”. After 1954, when he moved to the southern region, his work added “a bold, liberal, peaceful style on sumi-e paintings”. His paintings are classical in style, but deeply personal because the Kinh Bắc folk tradition has been deeply ingrained in his soul, especially the period before 1954.
