Le Pho's self-portrait fetches $1 million at France auction

The painting had been expected to fetch around €200,000 ($238,200) but sold for an "exceptional price," the auction house said.

"Autoportrait dans la forêt" is a 37x75.7 cm oil painting thought to be done in 1929.

It was exhibited in Hanoi that year, Sotheby's said.

'Autoportrait dans la forêt' (Self-portrait in the forest) by Le Pho. Photo courtesy of Sotheby's.

It was in the collection of illustrator Pierre Le-Tan (1950 - 2019), Pho's son.

Pho (1907-2001) was a prominent Vietnamese painter who carved out a successful career in France. He has thousands of works to his credit, and was the first Vietnamese artist whose paintings fetched a million dollars in auctions.

His first painting to go for over $1 million was ‘Family Life,’ sold by Sotheby's Hong Kong in 2017.

In October 2020, his silk painting ‘Young Girl With Peonies’ was sold for €1.16 million ($1.36 million) by French auction house Aguttes.

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