Nam Son was co-founder of the L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine (EBAI), which opened its doors in Hanoi in 1925. As a talented artist his work drew on Vietnamese, Chinese, and French influences. Born into a scholarly family his traditional education was followed by secondary education at a French colonial school, which secured his employment in the colonial administrative system; he simultaneously worked as an illustrator for several local magazines. He long aspired to establish a fine arts school in Hanoi and an encounter with Frenchman Victor Tardieu (1870–1937), in Hanoi in 1923, afforded Nam Son the opportunity to share this aspiration; in fact, Nam Son had already drawn up tentative plans for such a venture.