Prix de la route Mandarine 2026
Call for Applications
Support for the Young Vietnamese Art Scene
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On the occasion of the centenary of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, expert, launched in January 2025 in Hanoi a Prize dedicated to supporting and encouraging artistic creativity in Vietnam. At the beginning of September, she announced the call for applications for this competition, named the ‘Prix de la route Mandarine‘, which each year will aim to spotlight two Vietnamese students on the international art market.
“Today, this Prize, open to Vietnamese students regardless of their city of origin, offers the two winners the opportunity to take a first step into the international art market through a trip to Paris for an exhibition. The Mandarine Road Prize invites every young Vietnamese to set out on their journey and to surpass themselves artistically.”
– Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, President of the Association of Asian Artists in Paris
Since 2014, Aguttes has shed remarkable light on the work of painters who, in the early 20th century, received a dual Asian and Western education. It was in the amphitheater of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi that Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, also President of the Association of Asian Artists in Paris, announced on January 7, 2025, her project to create a Prize to support contemporary Vietnamese creativity. Beneath the large restored mural after Victor Tardieu, the first director of the École des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine, she presented this project, which is now taking shape with a call for applications.
The date of January 7, 2026, in Hanoi is currently ideally envisioned for the jury to announce the names of the two finalists and present them with the ‘Prix de la route Mandarine’.
Le Prix de la route Mandarine : An Immersion into the International Art Market
This Prize is open to any student of the visual arts enrolled in an art school in Vietnam in September 2025 for the 2025–2026 academic year, and is intended to give them a first step onto the international art market. This initiative offers the two laureates the opportunity to each exhibit their awarded work in France, in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Paris). The exhibition will be held in early April, coinciding with one of the two annual moments when Paris celebrates contemporary creation.
With airfare provided, the two winners will be able to attend the opening of the exhibition of their work in Paris. They will also benefit from a program of artistic activities, including meetings with market professionals, visits to museums, and access to must-see events such as current Parisian exhibitions and fairs. In addition, they will receive a grant of €1,000 to support their stay.
We invite you to review the participation guidelines by downloading the application form and the Prize regulations.
The Jury of the 2026 Mandarine Road Prize
Among the jury members are:
- The descendants of Victor Tardieu (first director of the School, 1925 – 1937), represented by Nicola Baudo, his great-grandson.
- The descendants of Évariste Jonchère (second director of the School, 1938 – 1945), represented by Arnaud Fontani and Florence Fontani-Veron, his great-nephew and great-niece.
- Hàn Ngọc Vũ, Vietnamese collector.
- Hà Mạnh Thắng, contemporary Vietnamese artist.
- Lê Huy Tiếp, contemporary Vietnamese artist.
- Charlotte Aguttes-Reynier, President of the Association of Asian Artists in Paris (AAP).
Key Dates
Application deadline: November 7, 2025, at midnight, by email to: routemandarine@aap.art
Submission of works by the candidates: December 30, 2025
Jury deliberation: January 2026 in Hanoi (preferred date)
Exhibition in Paris: April 2026
The Mandarin Road?
It was on the storied Mandarin Road in Hanoi that the École des Beaux-Arts took root in 1925, inaugurating its first academic year. Though its name has changed several times throughout history, the road’s path traces back to antiquity. Today, it is known as Quốc lộ 1, or National Route 1A—Vietnam’s historic north-south artery, stretching over 2,300 kilometers and linking Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by way of Huế, Đà Nẵng, Nha Trang, and many others. As early as the medieval dynasties, this principal route connected the imperial capitals—first Thăng Long (present-day Hanoi), later Huế—to the southern provinces. Then called Đường Cái Quan, the “Great Road of the Mandarins,” it owed its name to the countless mandarins—civil servants and learned men of the imperial bureaucracy—who journeyed along it for centuries. These dignitaries, scholars and administrators alike, would travel its length to reach even the most secluded villages under their care.
Beginning in 1925, within the workshops of the School at 121 Mandarin Road, the first students received an exceptional, cross-cultural education—one designed to equip them with the tools to usher in the Renaissance of Modern Vietnamese Art.