THE RISE OF THE VIETNAMESE ART MARKET

Vietnamese art is having a moment. Driven by the 20th-century Vietnamese Modernist movement, the market has seen a dramatic rise over the past decade, with auction records regularly being surpassed. In 2025 alone, works by Vietnamese Modernists generated more than $10 million at auction worldwide, including nearly $3.5 million in the United States.

Freeman’s has been at the forefront of this momentum in the U.S. market, accounting for more than $2 million of that total in 2025 and achieving the three highest auction prices stateside. Since 2015, building on more than a decade of engagement with the movement, the firm has sold 89 works, many sourced from prominent Chicagoland estates and private collectors, for a total of $6.5 million.

Perhaps no one is more synonymous with the Vietnamese Modernist movement than Lê Phổ. Born in Nam Dinh, Vietnam, in 1907, Lê Phổ was the star pupil of the École des Beaux-Arts d’Indochine’s inaugural class. He moved to Paris in the 1930s, where he drew inspiration from the work of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. Working well into his 90s, Lê Phổ created a body of work that became widely recognized and sought after, bridging Eastern and Western artistic traditions and creating paintings that resonate with a universal language of beauty.

La Clarté d’Été (Clarity of Summer), which Freeman’s sold in 2025 for $432,300—the highest sale price for Lê Phổ in the U.S. that year—is a perfect example of the artist’s style. The oil on canvas seems to glow from within, the pale yellows of the flowers and the sun-dappled ground surrounding the figures in an all-encompassing summer warmth. The figures themselves, embraced by the flowers and branches on either side, foster a centered calm within the bright energy of a summer day, the mother sweetly directing her gaze to the child, who looks out to engage the viewer. A favorite subject of the artist’s, the mother-and-child composition hearkens back to his childhood in Vietnam. Near the end of his life, Lê Phổ was famously quoted as saying that despite having lived most of his life in France, his soul was still connected to his native Vietnam.

Freeman’s is proud to host its inaugural dedicated sale of Vietnamese Modernists in July. The sale features several works by Lê Phổ, including a quintessential garden scene titled Composition, estimated to sell for $120,000 to $180,000, alongside pieces by his classmate and friend Vu Cao Đàm and other notable artists from the region. The sale will be held on July 21 at Freeman’s New York saleroom.

For more information, visit freemansauction.com.