The Tale of Kieu, written by Nguyen Du in the early 1800s, is widely considered the most famous poem and a classic in Vietnamese literature. Not only taught in school curriculums, the Tale of Kieu was also translated into many languages such as English, French, Chinese, German, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Romanian, etc. and transformed into many other art forms such as fine art, music, theatre, traditional water theatre, cinema, etc.

Before the time of Le Thiet Cuong, many Vietnamese post-war masters from the generation of Indochina School of Fine Art and later generations also explored the Tale of Kieu in their artworks. As a tribute to this masterpiece, artist Le Thiet Cuong published a special book containing 24 paintings - a project that he has cherished for many years. In this publication, Le Thiet Cuong found a way to illustrate Kieu in his signature minimalist style using gouache on traditional Vietnamese poonah-paper. All 24 paintings were displayed at Thang Long Art in April.

The exhibition also introduced a rare collection of original Tale of Kieu books by collector Nguyen Duy Cuong, including “Edition 0” originally part of the Nguyen Dynasty Royal Family’s collection, currently preserved at the British Library - the very first visually illustrated version in Vietnam, published shortly after Nguyen Du’s passing.