At the auction of Lynda Trouvé at the Drouot Hotel, Paris on September 22, the collection of 19 paintings of King Ham Nghi fetched 330,000 euros (about 8.5 billion VND).

The painting Bushes in the Sunset Shadow topped the list with a sale price of 38,000 euros (more than 974 million VND).

The wheat field reached 32,000 euros (more than 820 million VND) although the estimated price was only 3,000-5,000 euros.

King Ham Nghi (1871-1944), whose real name was Nguyen Phuc Minh and his courtesy name was Ung Lich, ascended the throne in 1884, at the age of 13. He was the eighth emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. In 1885, after the fall of the capital Hue, King Ham Nghi and Ton That Thuyet left the capital and issued the Can Vuong edict against the French colonialists. In 1888, he was arrested and exiled by the French to Alger (capital of Algeria). The King died in 1944 of stomach cancer.

The work Lake at dusk is estimated to sell for around 1,500-2,000 euros (about 38-52 million VND). At the end of the auction on September 22 in Paris, the painting reached 32,000 euros (more than 820 million VND).

The painting Riverbank was sold for 28,000 euros (about 718 million VND), painted in oil on canvas, measuring 38x47 cm.

During his time away from home, in his spare time, the king often painted landscapes, although his technique was still limited. The book Ham Nghi artiste: le peintre et le sculpteur (Amandine Dabat) states that on November 15, 1889, Captain de Vialar - the person assigned to take care of the king - saw his paintings and realized that he had a natural talent. The captain brought painter Marius Reynaud to meet the king, suggesting that he become a teacher. The king agreed, suggesting that he study twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Images of roads and rivers often appear in King Ham Nghi's paintings. The King painted The Road by the River with dimensions of 20.5x30 cm and 20.5x26 cm. The work was estimated to be worth 600-800 euros (about 15-20 million VND) but reached 22,000 euros (over 564 million VND).

Painting Late Summer by the River has dimensions   28.5x38.5 with oil on canvas. The work was sold for 20,000 euros (over 512 million VND), although it was estimated to be only around 2,000-4,000 euros (about 51-100 million VND).

According to Asian Art , the king's works are characterized by landscapes and soft colors such as blue, yellow, and lavender. He rarely painted people because he thought it implied loneliness.

The work Forest is oil on canvas, measuring 30.5x39 cm. The price of the painting reached 19,000 euros (over 487 million VND), many times higher than the expected figure of 1,500-3,000 euros (about 38-77 million VND).

The painting The House by the River , measuring 29x35 cm, fetched 17,000 euros (over 435 million VND). The lower left corner of the painting has a hieroglyphic signature, along with the date 1910.

King Ham Nghi used oil paint on canvas to paint The Road by the River. The painting costs 15,000 euros (more than 384 million VND).

Mr. Hoang Viet Trung - Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center - once said: "King Ham Nghi was the first modern painter of Vietnam because it was only later that the Indochina College of Fine Arts was established. His paintings mainly depict landscapes, expressing feelings about fate and missing his homeland."

The work Sunset over the Countryside uses oil paint on cardboard, estimated at 3,000-5,000 euros (about 76-128 million VND), hammered for 13,000 euros (more than 333 million VND).

The colors in the paintings often have a sad look, expressing the mood of the exiled king, who used painting to ease his homesickness.

The painting Herd on the Grassland has a hieroglyphic signature on the lower right, measuring 31x36 cm. The painting is worn and scratched but is still worth 12,000 euros (more than 307 million VND).

The river on a summer afternoon is a painting worth buying.   lowest at the auction - 6,800 euros (over 174 million VND).

The remaining paintings ranged in price from 13,000 to 28,000 euros (about 333-718 million VND), all higher than the appraisal price. Auctioneer Lynda Trouvé said this was the only collection of King Ham Nghi found in France.

The works were found in an old briefcase, almost thrown in the trash because no one knew the hieroglyphic signatures on the paintings. Thanks to the accompanying postcard titled "Colonial Infantry Lieutenant Colonel Henri Aubé, Director of the Indochina Geography Department in Hanoi", and the signature of King Ham Nghi, the origin of the paintings was discovered.

Vnexpress.net