A national treasure of Hanoi women’s painting by To Ngoc Van
Among To Ngoc Van’s 59 artworks preserved at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum, “Two Maidens and a Little Boy” made many viewers pause for a long time when visiting gallery No.9 on the second floor. Recognized as a national treasure in 2013, the painting is one of the typical works of the early stage of the artist’s career. Praising the beauty of Hanoi women The beauty of Hanoi women depicts in the famous painting “Two Maidens and a Little Boy” by Vietnamese painter To Ngoc Van Born in 1944, “Two Maidens and a Little Boy” depicts a corner of life in Hanoi in the 1940s. By the porch, where the bamboo blind is rolled up high, and the confederate rose bush is full of pale pink flowers in the garden, two young girls sit next to a little boy and share confidence. The three characters are in a triangular composition within a vertical frame – a classical arrangement of Western painting. One girl in a warm-yellow Vietnamese ao dai sits on a bamboo cot holding a pink fl