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The painting “Huong River” (1902) by artist Bauchaud |
In the memory of fine arts, the first images of the Huong River likely came from French artists who visited Indochina in the late 19th century. Among them, Gaston Roullet was considered to have come to Hue the earliest. In late 1885 and early 1886, artist Roullet came to Hue during the Tet holiday of the Year of the Dog and painted quite a few works, including several paintings of the Huong River. In 1902, there was a painting by French artist Bauchaud depicting women returning from the market, gathering on the bank of the Huong River, preparing to board a boat.
In 1907, artist Charles Ulmann came to Hue and painted “The Huong River in Hue,” depicting the peaceful Huong River with lush green rows of trees reflected in the water. Above, the sky was blue with white clouds and distant mountain ranges. Looking at this painting, one can imagine the Hue boats on the Huong River of old - covered boats and uncovered boats that haven't changed much from those days to now, despite over 100 years passing. In 1914, artist Gustave Martinien Salgé created an oil painting on canvas of Huong River boats. In 1924, artist Victor Tardieu came to Hue and left for posterity the oil painting “Market by the riverbank.” The painting depicts the fleet of Huong River boats anchored closely together with their poles.
The earliest Vietnamese artists to paint the Huong River were those who studied at the Indochina Fine Arts School. At that time, Vietnamese painting was just discovering oil painting techniques, impression colors, and Western perspectives, but in their hearts, they carried the classical beauty of folk paintings and silk paintings. And so, the Huong River entered the canvas like a shy young woman, serving as the background for Hue’s story.
In 1932, artist Mai Trung Thu, a prominent artist from the Indochina Fine Arts School, came to Hue to teach and painted the famous “Woman with conical hat by the river.” This is a work that combines realistic beauty with a deeply romantic spirit. In this painting, the Huong River setting serves as a lyrical background. Behind the woman is the calm water surface, spreading wide and reflecting boat shadows. That space is flat and still, evoking the true nature of the Huong River with its gentle, peaceful flow through the heart of Hue. Mai Trung Thu used light tones such as green, gray-blue, and dark brown to recreate the serene, distant foundation of the river. It not only serves as a background for the woman’s figure but also infuses the entire painting with poetic quality. And on that river, a boat appears like a shadow of life on the water. The boat has a curved roof, with the silhouette of a person wearing a conical hat standing at the side, appearing as a cross-section of old Hue’s river life. These were river-crossing boats, passenger boats, or round boats that drifted daily. This detail places the female character in the proper cultural context of Hue, beside the Huong River, becoming a symbol of Hue.
After the war, when Hue painting entered a new phase, the Huong River appeared again in the nostalgic colors of artist Dinh Cuong. For him, the Huong River no longer fully revealed its form but only appeared faintly through layers of shimmering and ambiguous colors. One might not see the river concretely, but recognize it through lingering melancholy, or through Hue colors flowing abundantly like ink in a dream.
Dinh Cuong painted a Huong River of memory, where the water flows not through reality but through longing. In “Across the River,” rooftops and distant mountain ranges appear like remote memories, gray-silver tones does as if they exist only in memory, not reality. One could say the colors here are not descriptive but symbolic. The Huong River becomes a boundary of memory - on this side is a young woman sitting in the present, on the other side is a distant, hazy realm of memory. In “Follow you back to Hue,” the Huong River is not just scenery but soul, the flowing pulse of Hue. The blue-green-purple color scheme hints at poetic and musical qualities, creating a “lyrical river” that many poets have compared to a lover, a mother, or a young woman lying in dreamy sleep.
From the 1990s onward, many Hue artists began letting the Huong River flow into their paintings as a way to preserve their homeland’s image. Artist Nguyen Van Tuyen painted many works about boats and the waters of the Huong River. The Huong River in his eyes is everyday breath, where there are lonely and patient boats, flowers blooming symbolizing vigorous life, a world hazy with misty colors in the paintings of that quiet artist. In 2025, the Hue Fine Arts Museum collected his “Huong River and the Citadel.”
Since 2001, a French artist, Gérald Gorridge, has returned to Hue at least 17 times. He was “seduced by the Huong River in an indescribable way,” and “the Huong River Painting collection” was born - the result of inspiration and tireless creativity.
Hue people often say, “The Huong River is a mother.” A gentle, patient, and silent mother witnessing all joys and sorrows. Painting is the mirror through which we see the face of that mother through generations of artists. And when we stand before those paintings, sometimes we no longer see colors but see ourselves merged in the water’s flow. Because the Huong River, more than just a subject of fine arts, is the collective memory of a city, the shared nostalgia of countless people. A river that knows how to transform into art - that is the soul of Hue.