Eight Views and Nine-Bend Streams of Gyeonggi : Mountains, Rivers, and People

The Bagyeon Falls are located in Bagyeon-ri, north of Gaeseong, North Korea. Koreans have long regarded this waterfall as one of the most beautiful on the Korean Peninsula, along with Guryong Falls at Geumgangsan Mountain and Daeseung Falls at Seoraksan Mountain. During the Joseon Period, people referred to Bagyeon Falls, Seo Gyeong-deok (a Confucian scholar), and Hwang Jin-i (a famous gisaeng) as the three best-known phenomena of Songdo (currently Gaeseong): These waterfalls were depicted in a masterpiece of the same title produced by Jeong Seon (pen-name: Gyeomjae), and in a folk song famous among Koreans. This digital painting presents the refreshing sight of waterfalls and a beautiful pond.

Park Sang-ok, a Western-style painter, painted numerous objects associated with the country’s traditional folk culture and scenes characterized by its unique local atmosphere. Hwahongmun Gate and Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion are said to stand out among the Eight Scenic Views in Suwon. These special places have been the subjects of an uncountable number of photos, postcards, and paintings.

This stream with nine meanders originates at Samtaegol, Tongbangsan Mountain (height: 650m) between Seorak-myeon, Gapyeong-gun and Seojong-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, and flows into the Bukhangang River. This painting depicts Byeokgyecheon Stream and the Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway when it was under construction.

Located in Yeoncheon, Taeryeongsipcheongwon House was inhabited by Heo Mok (pen-name: Misu1595-1682), a great scholar of the mid-Joseon Period. In the courtyard of the house, Heo created two gardens, namely, Sipcheongwon, which contained ten evergreen trees, and Goeseokwon, which contained a collection of bizarre-looking stones collected from nearby places.

Namhansanseong Fortress (location: Jungbu-myeon, Gwangju-si in Gyeonggi-do) was built during the Joseon Period. This is a winter scene of the fortress made with a traditional woodcut printing technique.

According to a story about Yongjusa Temple, Garyangsa Temple was founded in 854 (the 16th year of the reign of King Munseong of Silla), and destroyed during the invasion of the Qing Dynasty of China in 1636-1637. During the late Joseon period King Jeongjo (r. 1776-1800) relocated the tomb of his father Prince Sado from Yangju to Hwasan, and re-founded the temple so he could to pray for the everlasting peace of his deceased father there. King Jeongjo felt deeply sorry for his ill-fated father, who was executed at the order of his own father, King Yeongjo, at the age of 28. At that time, Monk Bogyeong’s sermon moved him so deeply that he decided to build a temple to console his deceased father’s spirit.

This painting of Silleuksa Temple in Bongmisan Mountain, Yeoju-si is a modernistic rendering of the ancient temple that was produced using a technique by which several coats of white lead and whitewash powder were applied to a canvas pre-coated with clay.
 

This painting depicts the late fall scenery of Yangsuri, where the waters of the Bukhangang River and the Namhangang River meet. The painting is characterized by subdued colors and a calm composition.

This painting depicts an apocalyptic landscape formed by a stream and waterfalls on a moonlit night. The use of charcoal creates an absolute darkness in which the moon shines all the brighter. The cascading waterfall creates a pleasant contrast with the darkness.
 

This work depicts the landscape near Aegibong Peak in Gimpo as it changes from daybreak to dusk.

This painting expresses the wish to visit the areas across the Imjingang River, which forms the border between the two Koreas. Kim’s atelier is actually situated a short way from the river, in Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju-si.

The painting depicts a scene of a tranquil village in rural Yangpyeong after spring rain.

The villagers of Daechu-ri, Paengseong-eup, Pyeongtaek-si became embroiled in a dispute with the Ministry of National Defense over the relocation of the base of the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division to their area in 2008. This painting realistically portrays the last sight of a village whose inhabitants had lived there for many generations, but who were forced out to make room for the U.S. army.

This painting of the entrance to Danwon High School in Ansan was inserted in a newspaper article written on the first anniversary of the Sehwol Ferry Disaster, in which about 300 students and teachers of the school tragically lost their lives while on a trip to Jeju Island in April 2014.

The artist Jang U-seong strived to develop the country’s traditional Indian ink paintings and led the movement for the development of literati paintings focusing on the expression of the artist’s inner world in the country’s post-liberation period. This work depicting birds flying over the DMZ in the Paju area represents earnest wishes for the reunification of the two Koreas.

The piece portrays South Korean citizens who were born in the North holding a sacrificial rite for their deceased ancestors, whose tombs are in the North, at Mangbaedan, Imjingak near the DMZ during the Lunar New Year in 1995. Part of Geumgangsan Mountain is portrayed in the top right of the painting, while the artist himself is portrayed on its extreme right. The work is intended to represent young people’s earnest desire for the reunification of the Korean peninsula.

This painting is a result of sketches made by the artist during visits to various sections of the DMZ, which perhaps surprisingly has become a pristine reserve of numerous wildlife species.

This work expresses the hope of being able to make a trip to Europe through what is now North Korea and what was once the Silk Road after the country’s reunification. It also depicts various landmarks in North Korea, the Gobi Desert, and Mongolia, as well as Mt. Everest in the Himalayas, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, windmills in the Netherlands, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway.