Hanoi museum marks Year of the Horse with landmark art exhibition
Vietnam’s Fine Arts Museum traces centuries of symbolism through 60 works ahead of the Lunar New Year.
THE HANOI TIMES — An exhibition celebrating the horse - Vietnam’s zodiac animal for 2026 has opened in Hanoi to offer visitors a concise tour through the country’s artistic history and cultural symbolism.
Horse Number V by Le Ba Dang.
Running until March 1 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, the exhibition titled “Horses in Visual Arts” brings together 60 works drawn from the museum’s folk, applied, modern and contemporary collections.
With works made of lacquer, oil, silk, ceramics, wood and terracotta, the exhibition charts how the image of the horse has evolved across generations of Vietnamese artists.
In Vietnamese culture, the horse has long been associated with loyalty and everyday life, a relationship reflected in folk and applied arts where the animal appears in simple, vivid forms. In modern visual art, the horse takes on broader symbolic weight, standing for strength, resilience and aspiration.
The artworks are from some Vietnam’s best-known artists namely Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Ngo Manh Lan and Tran Khanh depicting the legendary Saint Giong astride a horse, a national symbol of resistance and collective will, while paintings by famous artists To Ngoc Van, Nguyen Van Ty and Bui Xuan Phai offer a gentler portrayal, showing horses as companions to ethnic communities in Vietnam’s mountainous regions.
Lacquer painting themed horse by artist Nguyen Ngoc Tho.
The exhibition also reflects wartime experience. During the resistance years, artists such as Duong Bich Lien, Nguyen Trong Kiem and Nguyen Thu portrayed horses alongside soldiers and President Ho Chi Minh, elevating the animal into a symbol of endurance and humanistic values.
In contemporary works, the horse continues to signal vitality and ambition, while also conveying wishes for good fortune - an association that resonates strongly during the Lunar New Year.
Timed to coincide with Tet celebrations and the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the exhibition offers visitors a culturally grounded entry point into Vietnamese art, using a familiar zodiac figure to bridge tradition and modern expression.
Mau Ngo Spring (1981) by Nguyen Tan Cu.
Horse by Hua Thanh Binh.
Saint Giong by Tran Khanh Chuong.
