​Le Pho painting fetches $532,000 at French auction

‘Sau Khi Tam’ (After The Bath), which depicts a woman with a wispy cloth around her chest and neck, attracted a bidding battle on December 7 among 23 lots after starting at €150,000 ($181,670), according to art expert and collector Ly Doi.

After The Bath by Le Pho. Photo courtesy of Tajan.

It is a 46.5 x 35.5cm ink and gouache work on silk with Pho's signature at the bottom right corner and notes he wrote with a pencil in the back.

Pho (1907-2001) was a prominent painter who carved out a successful career in France. In his long career he created thousands of works.

He was the first Vietnamese artist to breach the million-dollar mark. His first painting to fetch over $1 million was ‘Family Life’ at Sotheby's Hong Kong auction house in April 2017.

In October this year his silk painting ‘Young Girl With Peonies’ went for €1.16 million ($1.36 million) at French auction house Aguttes.

In May 2019 his ‘Nue’ (Nude) fetched HKD10.9 million ($1.4 million), the highest price ever for a Vietnamese work, at Christie’s Hong Kong.