The exhibition unfolds as a space where imagination is carried across generations, where each work holds a fragment of memory, a longing, and a possibility not yet fully formed. Within this artistic garden, the artists do not tell a single shared story, but instead create a polyphonic field of feeling, rich with layered sensibilities.
Dream of Dreams brings together eight Vietnamese artists: Trần Nguyên Đán, Trần Văn Mãng, Phan Thanh Bình, Trần Anh Huy, Nguyễn Vũ Lân, Hoàng Đăng Khanh, Lê Hữu Long and Lê Thừa Hải in a contemplative exhibition at Boi Tran Garden. Conceived not as a narrative but as a state of presence, the exhibition unfolds through subtle correspondences between works, where memory, imagination and painting converge. Each practice remains singular, yet together they form a quiet continuum, like images that return, transform and persist across time.
Boi Tran Garden reflects on a defining moment for Vietnamese modern art, following an intimate encounter with collector Philippe Damas and Francis Belin on the eve of Christie’s Hong Kong auction A Quest for Eternity. The landmark sale achieved historic results, setting multiple world records and affirming the growing international recognition of Vietnamese modernism. More than an auction, A Quest for Eternity stands as a testament to scholarship, vision, and the enduring cultural legacy of Vietnam’s artists on the global stage.
In the hush that follows ruin, some shout; others whisper. Boi Tran paints. The Élégantes de Hue, seven women in flowing áo dài, do not ask to be seen; they endure, as Hue endured. Wounded, quiet, and radiant. Their beauty is not spectacle, but refuge. Melchior Dejouany’s journey into Vietnamese art began not with grandeur, but with the quiet soul of Boi Tran’s lacquer.
Among lacquer and legacy, her work is not loud. It is lasting.
French collector Melchior Dejouany once called discovering pictorial lacquer “one of the most beautiful revelations” of his life. That revelation began with a painting by Boi Tran, luminous, quiet, and unforgettable, seen at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2012. In her layered technique, he found something deeper: feeling, stillness, soul. Her work opened not just a door into Vietnamese art, but into a story, one that continues across generations, bound by vision, tenderness, and the quiet power of beauty that travels and connects across oceans.
The Melchior Dejouany Collection showcases the brilliance of Vietnamese masters: Nguyen Gia Tri’s layered lacquer dreams, Le Pho’s elegant silks, and Vu Cao Dam’s poetic forms. And yet, it began with a single painting by Boi Tran, a quiet work of lacquer that spoke not of grandeur, but of grace. It was her voice, contemporary, contemplative, deeply human, that first drew him in. Among legends, her presence is not loud; it is luminous.
In June 2021, Christie's Paris presented its first sale dedicated entirely to women artists, spanning five centuries. Within this panorama, a single Vietnamese female artist appeared: Boi Tran. Her lacquer work was not positioned as an exception, but as part of a continuity, a presence already formed, entering a wider field of visibility. In a sale conceived to illuminate those long in the shadows, her work did not emerge as a rediscovery, but as a quiet unfolding.
Boi Tran is one of the few outstanding Vietnamese female artists. Her style is influenced by her teacher, Trung Nguyen. She also worked as Nguyen's model, serving as a source of creative inspiration for the artist. Boi Tran's Elegant in Hue trilogy is presented in a classical European triptych form. They depict a group of beautiful goddesses strolling, sitting and dancing in a glorious garden. The composition of the piece is extraordinary and spectacular.
In October 2017, Mr Zhang Zhi Yong, President of the Shanghai Pujiang Southeast Asia Culture and Art Exchange Center, and Mrs Zhang Jing came to Boi Tran Garden to celebrate Boi Tran’s solo exhibition Le Rêve Qui Veille (The Watchful Dream). Their visit reflected a larger conversation between Hue, Shanghai, and the growing international regard for Vietnamese art.
Boi Tran Art Gallery is honoured to support the group exhibition “Chòn Chòn,” as part of its sustained engagement in nurturing younger generations of artists and contributing to a broader ecosystem in which contemporary Vietnamese art continues to evolve and expand.
