To Ngoc Van is considered one of the four masters in the history of modern Vietnamese art.Born into a poor family, he had to work at a young age to sustain himself.He found his passion for painting during high school and decided to quit in the third year to prepare for his Ecole des Beaux-Arts de I'lndochine entrance exam. He graduated in 1931 and received the highest score in his class for the final exam.

Since the early 1930s,To Ngoc Van received international recognition by participating in the Colonial Exhibition, the French Salon des Artistes in Paris, and Sociéte Annamite D'Encouragement à I'Art et à l'lndustrie. During this period, the artist specialized in oil paintings depicting young Hanoian women and urban landscapes. His brilliant use of color manifests influences from the French master Paul Gauguin. He often made sketches before working on a painting. Starting in 1939, he began to teach drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de I'Indochine and later became an official professor.

To Ngoc Van's painting style went through a significant change after 1943. Because of the intensive bombing in Hanoi, the school had to evacuate, and To Ngoc Van followed the painting group to Son Tay, where he first noticed the farmer's life. As he came into contact with the revolutionaries, To Ngoc Van wanted his paintings to serve the nation and the masses. Since then, his paintings focused on people's lives and war-zone scenes as the main subjects. In 1954, To Ngoc Van followed the troops to the battlefield of Dien Bien Phu to draw some sketches of soldiers and was unfortunately killed in a bombing raid.

Hailed as a national hero, To Ngoc Van made a model artist who contributed his life and works to the nation. He was posthumously awarded the first-class Independence Order and the Ho Chi Minh Prize in 1996, and his painting, Two Maidens and A Little Boy, is recognized as a national treasure in 2013.The artist was survived by his wife, Nguyen Thi Hoan, and five children. His third son, To Ngoc Thanh, is a renowned artist whose painting style shows influences from his father and Bui Xuan Phai.