“Do Thi Ninh was trained in the Socialist Realism style, the only school available in North Vietnam at the time of war and planned economy. Oil painting was taught according to classical Western anatomy, the compositions were based on golden proportions, etc. Approved themes were: lives of the workers and farmers and praising leaders. Pictorial language needed to be simple so the masses understood it. Our working practice was drawing and sketching in the field, then ing the best one. This was then transformed into an oil, lacquer or silk painting.     

Do Thi Ninh belonged to the first generation of Doi Moi (Reform) artists, but what has been reformed? Looking at her work, we don’t see new forms, political rebellion or provocations such as Mao Pop or Tiananmen Pop. Ninh developed her own expressionist style with strong colors and shifting forms. She especially likes Munch. Ninh paints her moods, her memory, her village, pagodas, templesplaces of spiritual life and childhood. Ninh has opened to the world, yet returned to village culture. A return to the inner world is a feature of Doi Moi, of self-liberation, compared to the Socialist Realism that previously dominated art in Vietnam.”
 (Nguyen Quan)  

Born in Hanoi in 1947.
Graduated from Fine Arts University Hanoi in 1977.
Worked in the Fine Arts Association.
National and international exhibitions, works are in Fine Arts Museum Vietnam, and in collections in Singapore, France, Hongkong, Sweden.