(VOVWORLD) - Dao Trong Ly, a 74-year-old Vietnamese living in Thailand, has painted more than 150 portraits of President Ho Chi Minh. The paintings were displayed at a recent exhibition in Hanoi to celebrate the 134th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday which falls on May 19.
 Painter Dao Trong Ly (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
Dao Trong Ly was born in 1951 to a patriotic overseas Vietnamese family in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. His family moved from Hanoi to Laos and settled in Thailand in 1945.
Ms. Vo Thi Hong Van, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnamese Association in Nakhon Phanom province, said that Dao Trong Ly used to be chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Nakhon Phanom Province, and head of the construction management board of the Memorial Site of President Ho Chi Minh in Nakhon Phanom.
He also worked as a teacher for more than 10 years, and actively encouraged the overseas Vietnamese community to contribute to the homeland during the war, according to Ms. Van.
In 2013 Ly had the idea to create an exhibition to give local people and foreign tourists a better understanding of President Ho Chi Minh. He collected many photos of President Ho and painted pictures of him. Despite lacking any formal training in art, Ly did his best to capture the soul and character of the President and reflect the great love and affection people feel for him.
“I’m fascinated with painting President Ho Chi Minh. Drawing a picture of him is very difficult. The highlight of every painting of President Ho Chi Minh is his gentle bright eyes,” said Ly.
 A painting of President Ho Chi Minh by Dao Trong Ly is printed on the US’s Newsweek magazine on February 20, 1967. (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
With heartfelt love and profound gratitude, and using photos and documents he found, Ly created many pictures of his hero. He said he has given some of the paintings to some sectors and agencies in Vietnam, the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand, and the Vietnamese embassy in Laos.
“I have always turned my heart to the homeland and President Ho Chi Minh. I joined other overseas Vietnamese in the revolution to contribute to national liberation,” Ly said.
Ly says he will donate his artworks to the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum following the exhibition.
Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh, director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, said that some 50 paintings by Dao Trong Ly displayed in this exhibition illustrate President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career, from the early days as he left to find a path to save the country, through every step and milestone of his special history.
Dao Trong Ly is currently one of the heads of the Vietnamese Association's Consultation Section in Thailand. For his great contribution to his homeland, Ly was conferred the Second Class Resistance War medal by the Vietnamese State and a “For the cause of education” medal by Quang Binh and Quang Tri province.