The Vietnam Fine Arts Association was founded in 1957 by a group of 123 artists including Huỳnh Văn Thuận and Phan Kế An. Over the course of 60 years the Vietnam Fine Arts Association has cultivated generations of artists who have made valuable contributions to Vietnamese art, including the first generation of artists from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts (then the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine ) in 1925; the generations of artists who joined the First and Second Indochina Wars; and the generations of artist since operating during the period of strengthened industrialization and modernization. The Vietnam Fine Arts Association has also sponsored artists with tuition, materials and exhibtions throughout its history, even building a large collection of important art works.