Interpretation of the poem illustrated on Nguyen Phan Chanh’s La Marchande De Oc.

温柔乡里竟春深，
野味清粗子销魂。
最是娇路难尽处，
灵山何必梦中寻.
—己巳年松月梅雪主人阮潘正笔

Spring is deepening in my beautiful hometown.
Simple and gross food and meat hunts can be; their delicious tastes linger in the minds and palates of children.
The road to comfort and sophistication is strewn with pitfalls.
No need to seek spiritual comfort only in dreams.
— Wan Panzheng, year of the Snake.

Wan Panzheng is Nguyen Phan Chanh’s name pronounced in Chinese and 1929 was the year of the snake.

The painter evokes his “beautiful hometown”, namely Thach Ha in the province of Ha Tinh in central-north Vietnam, where he sets the scene.

Nguyen Phan Chanh’s philosophy is fully inscribed in this 1929 poem: the happiness of living lies in the easy grasp of the simple but wonderful world surrounding us. The oc’, this snail picked up and flavoured by a broth of herbs, testifies to this immediate, straightforward and subtle enjoyment. Dreams and ambition are unhealthy lures.