Timeless beauty of Hanoi’s Communal House captured in artistic tribute
A glimpse into the soul of Vietnam’s rural heritage is now on display at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi.
THE HANOI TIMES — The exhibition “Once Upon a Time – The Story of Vietnamese Communal House – Tay Dang Communal House” invites visitors to explore memory, tradition, and creativity with 36 artworks inspired by one of Vietnam’s most iconic communal houses.
The artwork entitled "Village Festival" (Paper-Torn Collage) by artist Hoang Phuong Lien is on display at the exhibition.
Running until September 29 at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition pays tribute to Tay Dang Communal House in Ba Vi, Hanoi. Through the perspectives of 17 contemporary artists, its distinctive beauty is vividly captured, reflecting the essence of a typical Red River Delta communal house.
Nestled in the peaceful countryside of Ba Vi, Tay Dang Communal House is one of the most celebrated in northern Vietnam. With its intricate wood carvings, ancient pillars, and sacred motifs, it embodies centuries of village life, folk beliefs, and artistic heritage.
The exhibition breathes new life into this historic structure through works that reflect personal impressions, cultural memory, and artistic interpretation. From lacquer paintings to mixed media, each piece serves as a bridge between the tangible heritage of Tay Dang and the creative spirit of today’s artists.
The Sense of Summer by artist Vu Thuy Mai.
According to artist Luong Xuan Doan, Chairman of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, these artworks on display reflect a deep process of “field immersion”, which includes artists traveling to Tay Dang, sketching on-site, conversing with villagers, and internalizing the spiritual essence of the place before interpreting it through their own unique visual languages.
“The heritage does not stand still. It continues to open its doors to new perspectives that allow the old soul to shine through young eyes,” said Doan.
Among the standout works is the Nguyet Gac Tay Dang (Tay Dang’s Moon Belfry) by Do Thanh, a stunning wood-carved piece adorned with gold leaf and UV printing, radiating both grandeur and modern elegance.
The artwork of Nguyet Gac Tay Dang or Tay Dang’s Moon Belfry by Do Thanh.
Meanwhile, Vu Thuy Mai’s Cam Thuc Mua Xuan (Sense of Spring) evokes the gentle mist of spring through soft strokes on silk, capturing the poetic aura of the communal house at dawn.
Each artwork is a fragment of memory reimagined from the Village Festival by Hoang Phuong Lien, made with the unconventional but emotive medium of torn paper, to Mother and Child by Vu Duc Hieu in ceramics, embodying the intimate life of village families.
Together, all of these pieces of art not only reflect the diversity of Vietnam’s contemporary visual language but also the richness of the communal house as a cultural nucleus.
The exhibition invites today’s generation, especially the youth, to reconnect with the roots of Vietnamese identity, to inherit and innovate, to honor the spiritual architecture of their ancestors while giving it voice in the language of today.
