Jeong Seon's landscapes of Joseon gathered in largest-ever exhibition

Daegu Gansong Art Museum presents 'Gyeomjae Jeong Seon — Painting Joseon Through Joseon's Eyes'

Largest-ever special exhibition includes national treasures and designated treasures

'Gyeonggyomyeongseungcheop,' 'Haeakjeonsincheop' shown in full for first time

A view of the exhibition 'Gyeomjae Jeong Seon — Painting Joseon Through Joseon's Eyes' at Daegu Gansong Art Museum. [Daegu Gansong Art Museum]

The largest exhibition ever assembled of works by Jeong Seon, the late Joseon master who pioneered the "true-view landscape" (jingyeong sansui) tradition, opens this week, bringing together more than 200 of his paintings in a single venue.

Daegu Gansong Art Museum is marking the 350th anniversary of Jeong Seon's birth with a special exhibition, "Gyeomjae Jeong Seon — Painting Joseon Through Joseon's Eyes," running Wednesday through Dec. 27. Co-organized by the Gansong Art and Culture Foundation and the Samsung Culture Foundation, the show brings together 216 works drawn from both foundations' collections as well as from the National Museum of Korea and private collectors. Among them are one national treasure and 71 designated treasures.

The Gansong Art and Culture Foundation is contributing 128 works from its holdings. The exhibition marks the first time the full pictorial contents of "Gyeonggyomyeongseungcheop" (treasure), "Haeakjeonsincheop" (treasure), "Sosangpalgveongdocheop" and "Gwandongpalgveongdo" have been shown publicly. Also on display are "Pungaknaesanchongnam" (treasure), "Cheongpungye" (treasure) and "Yeosanchodang" (treasure). Works from the National Museum of Korea — including "Sagongdosipumcheop" — as well as "Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Hwacheop" from Waegwan Abbey and "Dalseongwonjodo" round out the lineup.

Jeong Seon's "Dokseo Yeoga" from "Gyeonggyomyeongseungcheop." [Gansong Art and Culture Foundation]

Among the works from "Gyeonggyomyeongseungcheop" on view are "Dokseo Yeoga," a self-portrait depicting Jeong Seon's life in Yuran-dong below Bugaksan in his early 50s; "Sihwahwansanggwan," which records the circumstances behind the album's creation; and "Chokjaejesi," capturing the moment he exchanged poems and paintings with his lifelong friend, the poet Yi Byeong-yeon.

"Cheongpungye" illuminates Jeong Seon's relationship with the Jangdong Kim clan. Cheongpungye, a valley on the eastern slope of Inwangsan, was a villa established by Kim Sang-yong — who died in the Byeongja War — on the site of his great-great-grandfather's home, and the Jangdong Kim family lived there for generations. Kim Chang-heup, Kim Sang-yong's great-grandson, was Jeong Seon's teacher, and their great-great-grandfathers had been close neighbors in the Inwangsan area. Even when Jeong Seon's once-prominent family fell on hard times, his teacher and the Kim clan continued to support him. The Jangdong Kim family played a pivotal role in Jeong Seon's rise to become one of Joseon's foremost painters.

The national treasure "Geumgang Jeondo" (private collection) centers on Mount Geumgang, the subject Jeong Seon returned to most throughout his life. Rendered as a bird's-eye panorama of Gaegolsan — the mountain's winter form — the composition sweeps across countless peaks and valleys in a single view.

"Pungaknaesanchongnam" captures the autumn scenery of Mount Geumgang in meticulous detail, with the names of more than 40 individual sites inscribed across the painting to present as many celebrated landmarks as possible.

Jeong Seon's "Geumgang Jeondo." [Private collection]

Jeong Seon (1676–1759), known by his pen name Gyeomjae, was the Joseon master who invented the true-view landscape tradition, rendering Korea's own mountains and rivers in a distinctly Korean pictorial language. Gansong Jeon Hyeong-pil, who sought to preserve national cultural heritage and dignity, amassed a large collection of Jeong Seon's work, and the Gansong Art and Culture Foundation today holds more of his paintings than any other institution.

Jeong Seon was born into an impoverished yangban family in Jangdong, Hanyang — the area now encompassing Hyoja-dong and Cheongun-dong — and produced countless masterworks until his death at 84. The true-view landscape tradition was a product of the philosophical and aesthetic shifts of the late Joseon period, and his paintings reflect the cultural identity, realist tendencies and travel culture of his era.

The exhibition particularly aims to shed light on the personal life and social relationships of Jeong Seon, aspects that have remained little known despite his towering reputation. Beyond works such as "Dokseo Yeoga" and "Cheongpungye," the organizers have placed documentary records throughout the galleries to help visitors build a fuller picture of the man behind the paintings.

"Jeong Seon's works, which captured the true beauty of our natural landscape through his own unique methods and philosophy, offer profound insights into how we view Korean culture today," said Jeon In-geon, director of Daegu Gansong Art Museum. "We hope this special exhibition will be an opportunity to again feel the distinctiveness and universality of Korean culture, and to deepen our pride in our cultural heritage."

Hoam Art Museum said the long-standing collaboration between the Samsung Culture Foundation and the Gansong Art and Culture Foundation had made it possible to present an exhibition of this scale — one never seen before — at Daegu Gansong Art Museum. "This exhibition will be a rare opportunity to survey both Jeong Seon's artistic world and the life of the man himself," it said.

pink@heraldcorp.com