Screenshot of a page to introduce the painting on the website of the auction organiser (Source: christies.com) Hanoi (VNA) - A portrait, titled La Joconde (MonaLisa), by late painter Mai Trung Thu (1906-1980) will be available for biddingon May 24 as part of the Christie’s Hong Kong Spring Auctions.
Painted in 1974, it was made of ink and gouache on silk.
With a guide price of 2.5 – 3.5 million HKD (321,00 –450,000 USD), insiders said the painting is likely to fetch up to 1.2 millionUSD.
“We can imagine Mai Thu discovering and visiting often theoriginal Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre, from his stay in Parisin 1937 to 1974, the date of execution of his own painting. There is no doubtthat he scrutinized it, in all the lights of day, in all seasons, indulging ina continuous and attentive observation. A piety. He is 68 years old, at thepeak of his art (widely recognized) and yet, like a student in a workshop, helaunches into the reproduction of the most famous painting in the world,”Jean-François Hubert, a senior expert on Vietnamese Art said in his lot essaypublished on Christie’s website for the auction of the painting.
In April, Thu’s oil painting on canvas entitled Portrait deMademoiselle Phuong (Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong) was sold at an auction ofSotheby's Hong Kong for a record price of 3.1 million USD, the highest pricepaid for Vietnamese art.
Also on auction with La Joconde on May 24 are threemasterpieces by other late Vietnamese painters - Les Teinturières (Dyers atWork) by Nguyen Phan Chanh (1892-1984) as well as Jeune femme attachant sonfoulard (Young Lady Tying Her Scarf) and Le Bol Bleu (The Blue Bowl) by Le Pho(1907-2001)./.
VNA
