TL;DR: Kim Hoàng painting is a line of Tết folk paintings from Kim Hoàng village, formerly in Vân Canh commune, Hoài Đức district, now within Hà Nội, best known for printing images on red paper. The craft was lost after the 1915 flood that breached the dike and had vanished entirely by 1945, then was restored from the 2010s through projects by researchers and local artisans. Compared with Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống paintings, Kim Hoàng differs in its red paper ground, printing method, and a repertoire leaning toward worship and congratulatory pictures.
What is Kim Hoàng painting?
Kim Hoàng painting is a line of Tết folk paintings from Kim Hoàng village, Vân Canh commune, former Hoài Đức district (before July 2025), Hà Nội, most famous for printing images onto red paper. It is one of the Tết painting lines of the northern delta, alongside Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống, but its fate was broken: the craft village lost its printing blocks, lost its makers, and finally lost even the material memory of the paintings.
Nghệ nhân Nguyễn Thị Bình said that during its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries, Kim Hoàng folk painting covered diverse subjects such as people and landscapes, with everything rendered vividly and emotionally[1]. The historic flood of 1915 that breached the Liên Mạc dike swept away the village's printing blocks, causing the painting craft to gradually lose its footing[1].
By 1945, Kim Hoàng paintings had almost vanished from the market and then disappeared entirely; the image of a village communal house yard glowing red as paintings dried survives only in the memories of the elderly[2]. The line was thus lost for nearly eight decades before restoration efforts began[2].
Why were Kim Hoàng paintings printed on red paper?
The most visible distinguishing feature of Kim Hoàng painting is the red paper ground: instead of printing images on white paper and then coloring them, makers brushed red onto the paper first, then printed the image. This gives the whole sheet a red tone, with the printed image standing out as a layer carved over the color.
A common explanation in materials about this line is that the red ground symbolizes good fortune, fitting the function of Tết paintings and worship paintings hung in the home. It should be said clearly: this is the understanding of folk art researchers and of the makers, not a written rule from earlier times. Other painting lines also use red, but usually as the red of details, not of the whole ground.
Technically, Kim Hoàng painting belongs to the group of woodblock prints combined with hand coloring, similar to other folk painting lines of the northern delta. The difference lies in the order of steps: the red ground is made first, the image printed afterward, so the visual effect differs markedly from printing on white paper.
How does Kim Hoàng painting differ from Đông Hồ and Hàng Trống?
The three lines are all folk paintings of the northern delta but differ in ground material, printing technique, and repertoire. The table below compares basic points based on descriptions in materials on Vietnamese folk painting and reports on the craft village:
| Criterion | Kim Hoàng painting | Đông Hồ painting | Hàng Trống painting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of making | Kim Hoàng village, Vân Canh commune, former Hoài Đức district, Hà Nội | Đông Hồ village, former Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh | Hàng Trống street, Hà Nội |
| Paper ground | Red ground, image printed over it | White or điệp paper, printed then colored | White paper, printed then colored |
| Notable technique | Woodblock printing on red ground | Woodblock printing, hand drawing, natural colors | Woodblock printing, then hand painting over color |
| Familiar subjects | Worship paintings, congratulatory paintings, landscapes, people | Genre scenes, congratulatory, historical, story paintings | Worship paintings, congratulatory paintings, Tết paintings |
| Current status | Lost, being restored | Craft alive, active craft village | Craft alive, with artisans |
Note that the table is a general comparison, not an absolute boundary. Đông Hồ also has worship paintings, Hàng Trống also has genre scenes, and the lines borrowed subjects from one another. What gives Kim Hoàng its identity is its red ground and its broken fate, not a wholly separate repertoire.
How did the loss of Kim Hoàng painting unfold?
After the terrible flood of 1915 breached the dike, almost all the printing blocks and tools of the villagers were swept away[2]. By 1945, Kim Hoàng paintings had vanished from the market and disappeared entirely[2].
No material records of Kim Hoàng painting survive; a few scattered stories from older people cannot clearly reconstruct a painting line[1]. Some tell of a damaged printing block used only as a chopping board for water fern, which eventually disappeared too[1].
In that situation, Maurice Durand's book "Tranh dân gian Việt Nam" (Vietnamese Folk Painting) is noted as the only source mentioning Kim Hoàng village paintings when the restoration project began in 2015[1]. This is noteworthy: a line once thriving in the 18th and 19th centuries is now known only through a study by a French scholar.
Who restored Kim Hoàng painting?
Restoration has come through several efforts, notably the project of researcher Nguyễn Thị Thu Hòa and the work of artisans in Kim Hoàng village.
In 2015, the idea for a project to revive Kim Hoàng folk painting by artisan Nguyễn Thị Bình officially began; Bình was born and raised in Kim Hoàng village and knew of the paintings through elders' stories[1]. Bình found an old carved block of Kim Hoàng painting at her maternal family's home[1].
In 2017, researcher Nguyễn Thị Thu Hòa came to the village to carry out the Kim Hoàng folk painting restoration project; artisan Đào Đình Chung, a villager, signed up although he had no formal art training[2]. Chung said that when experts came to restore the painting models, he wanted to contribute to "bringing back to life" his homeland's painting line[2].
In the middle of the old village there is a Kim Hoàng folk painting workshop run by artisan Đào Đình Chung, welcoming tourists and students to visit and learn[2].
On what basis were Kim Hoàng paintings restored?
Restoring a line whose material records had almost entirely vanished raises a methodological question: what is the basis for reconstructing the models?
According to a report in Nhân Dân newspaper, the journey to restore the printing blocks began from zero, relying on the few remaining sources and old carved blocks luckily found[1]. Artisans in the project learned about folk art, met researchers, and studied painting techniques[2].
Two layers should be distinguished here. The first is technical restoration: remaking red paper, carving blocks, and printing images by traditional methods. The second is model restoration: reconstructing designs from descriptions in research books, surviving carved blocks, and community memory. The second layer always involves interpretation, and researchers usually say so when assessing restored paintings.
Why is Kim Hoàng painting classified as worship painting?
In folk art research classification, Kim Hoàng painting is usually placed among worship and congratulatory paintings, alongside other lines serving ritual and Tết decoration needs. This classification is based on the paintings' function in life, not on any written rule of the craft village.
Notably, the red ground suits both functions: the lucky color of Tết paintings and the solemn color of worship paintings. This overlap may be one reason the line survived long in ritual life before being broken by natural disaster and historical change.
What should be kept in mind when reading Kim Hoàng painting today?
When studying Kim Hoàng painting, readers should distinguish three kinds of information: surviving original paintings, restored paintings, and oral accounts. Very few originals remain, mainly through descriptions in research books; restored paintings are products of contemporary work; oral accounts are community memory, valuable but not a substitute for material records.
For a line lost for nearly eight decades, any claim about the "original" appearance of the paintings should be read as a grounded hypothesis, not a certain description. This is the attitude heritage conservation researchers often recommend when working with broken painting lines.
Gợi ý của Nhật Nguyệt: if you want to learn about Kim Hoàng painting, visit the workshop in Kim Hoàng village to see the process of making red paper and printing blocks directly, and read Maurice Durand's work on Vietnamese folk painting for a comparative view between research records and today's restored products.
