HÀ NỘI —A solo exhibition entitled Green Dreams by 10-year-old artist Nguyễn Hà Phương is being held at the Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum until September 17. Phương is the youngest artist to hold a solo show at the prestigious museum.

The fifth-grade student at Nguyễn Tất Thành primary school in Hà Nội has painted nearly 100 paintings, and is exhibiting 85. The paper and canvas paintings depict her dreams, and love of life and nature.

“She showed an aptitude for painting at a young age and it’s so good that she got the support of her family to develop this talent,”said Vi Kiến Thành, head of the Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.  

No one in her family paints, but by the age of five she was already painting nature, animals, relatives and friends. She said she preferred drawing nature because she found it hard to draw human beings, which require many details. She particularly loved Van Gogh’s paintings. “His painting Tournesol inspired me a lot,” she confided.

“I love painting. I want to be a painter. I do not want to work as an office worker and spend my whole time in an office with air-conditioning,” she said.

Her mother Kim Hoa recalls that when her daughter’s teacher Nguyễn Tuấn Sơn advised her to display her painting at an exhibition, the family was very hesitant.

“We do not have artistic traditions in the family, but my daughter loves drawing and painting. We only want to offer her an opportunity to develop her artistic taste,” she said.

“We consider this exhibition a gift for our daughter to preserve her best childhood memories. We do not have any other ambitions,” she added.— VNS