Late last year, two paintings entitled ‘Bien Goi’ (The Sea is Calling) and ‘Tai Nguyen Vo Gia’ (Valuable Natural Resources) drew a great deal of attention from both domestic and foreign visitors.  The 149.52m² paintings were hung on the wall along the pedestrian underpass at the western end of Da Nang’s Rong (Dragon) Bridge.

Visitors enjoying the acrylic beach paintings

The acrylic beach paintings on canvas had been created by painter Tran Huu Duong, Vice Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty of the Da Nang Junior College of Culture and Arts, and his colleagues over a 15 day period. 

Using the blue of the sea as their main colour, the paintings depict the richness of life in the ocean, and the generosity of nature for sea creatures.  Through the paintings, the painters wanted to convey to their viewers a message about marine environmental protection and love for the sea and nature.  

Thanks to these paintings, the public stopped dropping litter along the pedestrian underpass.

Another pedestrian underpass, beneath Vo Nguyen Giap outside the Holiday Beach Danang Hotel, was brought into use in the middle of last year.  

Developed by the hotel, the 100m-long tunnel was named ‘Holiday Beach Subway’.  It not only creates a safe pedestrian walkway from the hotel under the road to the beach, but it also provides a free-of-charge entertainment space for children with its ball pool, reading space, and mini 4D motion cinema.

Mr Tran Linh, Manager of the Online Sales Department of the hotel, said that the underpass is usually crowded with local people and their children.  In addition to the entertainment activities, children can participate in pottery and clay- making classes in the tunnel.

These 2 public spaces have helped to enhance the spiritual life of local residents, and create more highlights for the seaside city.

Painter Duong noted that he and his colleagues are planning to create new public spaces for street arts in order to bring fine arts closer to locals and visitors in the future.  This will help to make the city’s public spaces more beautiful and attract more visitors to the city.