The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts

If you are a fan of art like I am, one of the must-sees on any trip are visits to a country’s art museums and galleries. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts is the major art museum in the city. The museum consists of three, three-floor buildings that house a collection featuring Vietnamese artworks in sculpture, oil, silk painting and lacquer painting, Vietnamese ceramics, and a collection of ancient Buddhist art. I was fortunate to visit the Museum in August 2019.

The Museum of Fine Arts is housed in a lovely old colonial building complex.The main building was constructed between 1929 and 1934 as a villa for the Hua (Hui-Bon-Hoa) family. The museum was located there in 1987.

The main building is beautiful in itself with colonial style grill work, spiral staircases, and shuttered windows. It houses contemporary exhibits of painting and sculpture that present a good cross-section of Vietnames art from those in a Western style to more traditional Vietnamese styles. In a smaller colonial building next to the main building is a collection of ancient Vietnamese art, mostly pottery and sculpture that I found very interesting and different. 

If you decide to go to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts, it is in one of the more popular areas of the city. It is very close to the famous Benh Thanh Market and both together can make for an interesting part of your day in the city.

The following is just a small sampling of the many works of art in the Museum. As you can see they range from ancient pieces to contemporary but in a traditional style works, to modern art.

                                                                                                                   

We were lucky to be at the Museum on the day they were having a reception for artists in a contemporary show in the third building of the complex. We got to meet some of the artists and see some of the work going on in current day Vietnam. This was also an art competition as there were awards for some of the works. You will see red bows on some of the winners pictured here.

I’m standing in the doorway ready to leave the Museum after spending a wonderful time viewing a full spectrum of Vietnamese art from ancient times to the current day. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in Ho Chi Minh City.