The École supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine in Hanoi was opened in 1924 by the French government with the aim of training artists and teachers of drawing. The introduction of modern painting in Vietnam took place in a colonial context. The curriculum was supposed to combine Western art with Far-Eastern traditions, with the teaching modelled on that of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Topics taught there included: life drawing, linear perspective, open-air painting, and oil painting, all of which were new for Vietnamese students and completely different from their own tradition. The school also taught Far Eastern art history and techniques, such as silk painting and lacquer painting. Those Vietnamese painters who chose oil painting accepted a completely new medium.