The Influence of Existentialism in Buu Chi’s Paintings

Abstract

Buu Chi is one of the genius artists of modern Vietnamese painting. His works carved profound values in the artist world and painting viewer, both in Vietnam and the world. There is one remarkable characteristic which makes Buu Chi’s paintings becoming specifically is philosophic aspect. His works not only influenced by ‘Yin and Yang’ idea of Book of Changes and ‘impermanence’ idea of Buddhism but also inherited thought of existentialism which deeply impacted on South Vietnam society pre-1975 period. It can be said that, existentialism contributed a noticeable part to create typical sense for Buu Chi’s paintings, especially his oil-paintings. His works are combination of various influcences of existentialist writers, philosophers and painters such as Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Martin Heidegger and Alberto Giacometti. Some typical themes of existentialism including nothingness and absurdness of the world; transience and aloneness of human; uniqueness and rebellion of the subject; the obsession of time and death... are represented in Buu Chi’s paintings. Therefore, each his painting is a profound expression of human condition in the world. In this article, we analyze and describe the influence of existentialism to Buu Chi’s works which focused on two basic themes including: (1) the solitary and transient condition of human, (2) resistance.