President Park Geun-hye began her state visit to Switzerland with a series of cultural events, visiting an art exhibition and attending a performance. President Park, who has now become the first Korean head of state to visit the country, visited a special exhibition on Paul Klee (1879-1940), a well-known Swiss abstract painter, and attended a performance of “Korean Fantasy” in Bern on January 19.

The president visited the Zentrum Paul Klee museum in Bern to see “Paul Klee- Life and Work.” This exhibition is composed of 18 parts to show the work and life of the famous Swiss painter in chronological order.






Accompanied by museum director Peter Fischer, the president admired many well-known paintings, including “Insula Dulcamara” and Klee’s posthumous work “Still Life.”

After attending the exhibition, President Park quoted the painter himself by saying, "'Artists do not reproduce what we see. Rather, they make us see.' The talents of artists who create what people do not see is the energy that leads society in a creative manner. Such artistic creativity should be combined with IT and technological innovation in order to bring new creative energy to Korean society and to the economy."

After the museum visit, President Park attended a performance of the "Korea Fantasy," a dance and art show presented by the National Dance Company of Korea which shows off traditional Korean clothing, dance and singing. The show was designed to introduce viewers to traditional Korean art and culture and is part of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Korea-Switzerland diplomatic relationship. The performance featured some representative traditional Korean dances which have received favorable responses on world stages, including the taepyeongmu, a dance praying for peace, the buchaechum, or fan dance, the samgomu, a three-drum dance, the ogomu, a five-drum dance, and the dongnae hak chum, a traditional Korean crane dance native to the Dongnae region in Busan.



After enjoying the performance, President Park appeared on stage to deliver words of encouragement to the performers and said that she is glad to introduce Korean culture to Bern, a beautiful city listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. "Culture makes it possible for people around the world to live together and become one," said the president, stressing the importance of cultural communication.

By Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr