In term of the visual arts, painting is the most significant one. Historicallyspeaking, Vietnamese painting is still very young. However, thecultural origins of painting, in fact, went back much further.

 Vietnamesepeople have created art as long as they have existed. When the firstclasses in line drawing, anatomy and landscape painting were offered inthe early decades of the twentieth century, art students drew on theirrich religious and cultural background to execute their works. As aresult, you can see in these paintings, the combination of the views oftheir home villages, portraits of farmers in the countryside andtechniques of lacquer and silk which had been used for centuries intemple decorations.

Westernstyle in technique and the use of color was what the first studentgeneration trained in their school. The techniques, however, wereemployed by the graduate artists to depict the aesthetic essence ofVietnam, especially the freedom and generosity of an Asian soul. Suchfundamental beginning had laid the foundation for the youngergenerations to follow and again, lead to their success.

Inthe 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, the first modern artist generation joinedin the international  field of art and was highly evaluated in Vietnamas well as overseas. From then on, many of them gained good reputationand were honored as the masters of Vietnam's modern art such as To NgocVan, Nguyen Phan Chanh, Nguyen Gia Tri, Bui Xuan Phai, Le Pho, Tran VanCan, Nguyen Do Cung, Nguyen 'I'ien Chung, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Duong BichLien and so on.

Performing arts

Traditional Vietnamese musicis extremely diverse, consisting of many different styles varying fromregion to region. The widely known is Imperial Court music that wasperformed in the Vietnamese Court during feudalistic times from Tran Dynasty to Nguyen Dynasty. It features an array of instruments, featuring musicians and dancers adorned in elaborate garb. Besides, Quan ho has a long tradition in Vietnam while ca tru has been considered to recognize as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

As regard traditional theater, Cai luong remains very popular in modern Vietnam in comparison to other folk styles. Cheo singing is the most mainstream of theater form in the past and enjoyed widely by the public. Tuong singing, on the other hand, was transitioned from being entertainment for the royal court to traveling troupes.

Vietnam has 54 ethnic minority groups; each one has their own traditional dance. There are several traditional dances performed widely at festivals and other special occasions, such as the lion dance.

When watching a water puppetshow, do you know that it originated in the 12th century? In a show,the puppets standing in water are obscured by a split-bamboo screen andmanipulated by long poles hidden beneath the water. Epic stories aresung with many different characters, often depi

A water puppet show

Language arts

Vietnamese literature, both oral and written, is created largely by Vietnamese-speaking people. However, due to the long domination of Chinese, a lot of written works were in classical Chinese. Chunom, created around the 10th century, allowed writers to compose inVietnamese and use modified Chinese characters. By the mid-20thcentury, virtually, all works were composed in chu quoc ngu. Some defining works of literature include The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du, Luc Van Tien by Nguyen Dinh Chieu…

Speaking about the poetry, legendary poetess Ho Xuan Huong composed much of her poetry in chu nom, which later has been translated into quoc ngu for modern Vietnamese.

Asdevelopments flourish, Vietnamese art continues expanding over theworld. They do not content themselves with following up traditions.They are fashioning a new vision that keeps drawing substance fromnational roots and creating a new tradition - the tradition of the New!