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“Sơn nữ” (The Mountain Girl) by Lê Thị Lựu (Vietnamese) - Silk painting / 1980 - Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts (Vietnam) #WomenInArt #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #LeThiLuu #LêThịLựu #Luu #HoChiMinhCityMuseumofFineArts #VietnameseArt #SilkPainting #VietnameseArtist #WomenPaintingWomen
The title “Sơn nữ (Mountain Girl)” frames this portrait as both individual and emblem as a tribute to rural life and the feminine presence within Vietnam’s landscapes. Working in silk, a medium that rewards restraint, artist Lê Thị Lựu builds emotion through gentle lines and layered, luminous colors, letting the background glow through each area. The softened contours are less like documentary description than remembered light that’s tender, protective, and intentionally quiet. The young Vietnamese woman is shown from the waist up with her gaze lowered carrying a calm, inward happiness. Her skin is light-to-medium in the warm wash of the silk, and her cheeks are softly flushed. Straight black hair frames her face in short bangs with two braids falling toward her shoulders beneath a pale headscarf. Her features are modeled with delicate transitions without hard outlines so light seems to rise from within the fabric. She wears a white sleeveless vest over a blue blouse, with a darker collar at the neckline. At her chest and lap, she gathers a loose bouquet of cream and blush pink blossoms intermixed with leaves and shadowy stems, painted in watery touches that feather along the weave. Some petals dissolve into soft stains while others are come from few quick marks, creating texture without literal detail. Lựu lets areas of the silk remain luminous, so the young lady appears to float forward from the backdrop rather than sit heavily on it. Behind her, branches sweep diagonally, and the landscape breaks into luminous yellows and cool blues, like sunlight in a flowering thicket. Small accents of coral and deep teal flicker near the lower edge, echoing the bouquet’s colors and drawing our eyes back to her hands. Painted in 1980, late in Lựu’s life, this artwork values interiority over display. Even if the sitter’s name is unknown, she is rendered as someone with an inner world that is present, centered, and unhurried focused on blossoms that feel like place and mood.
January 11, 2026 at 4:53 PM