"Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land" ("몽유도원도") is a painting showing a dream about paradise that Prince Anpyeong (1418-1453), third son of King Sejong, had one day. Mountain cliffs covered by a thick fog and contrastingly clear peach blossoms make the painting one of Joseon's most splendorous landscape paintings. The painting, however, is difficult to enjoy at any museum in Korea, for it's held at the central library of Tenri University in Nara, Japan, and is considered there to be one of that nation's items of cultural heritage. When the painting was on display in Seoul in 2009, a never-ending line of people had to wait for hours just to see the painting for a few minutes.

The good news for art lovers in Seoul, however, is that the masterpiece landscape that was so difficult to admire in Seoul in the past, can now be enjoyed in a much healthier environment, allowing them to enjoy the painting through digital technology. A digital copy of the original painting sent from Tenri University is now on display at a gallery in Seoul.

Digital copies of seven Korean masterpieces that are preserved or on display at museums outside of Seoul, including the Joseon landscape painting mentioned above, are now on display at the Korea University Museum and at the Minoo Media Art Museum in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do Province, under the title of "Korean Cultural Heritage Abroad Digitally Returns Home."



The two exhibits not only project digital copies of the masterpieces, but also add a narrative about the digital copies that were provided by the museums overseas. On the digital canvases, objects in the paintings move and even the brush strokes can be seen. Visitors can enjoy the virtual experience that Prince Anpyeong himself would have seen in his dream when they see the water running down the valleys and over the painting's cliffs. Joseon scholar and official Yun Bong-gu even blinks in his digital portrait "Portrait of Scholar-Official Yun Bong-gu."

Korean masterpieces on display at museums overseas can't even be seen easily outside of Korea. If the masterpieces are digitalized and on display, however, a wider range of art lovers and historians can enjoy the masterpieces more easily, says Nam Sang-min from the Dain Media Art Lab.

The masterpieces revived through this digital breath of fresh air are open to the public at the Korea University Museum and at the Minoo Media Art Museum until Feb. 28.

By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Dain Media Art Lab
icchang@korea.kr