Today I visited the Hangaram Art Museum and the Hangaram Design Museum. One of them has an Impressionist exhibition and exhibits abstract works. In 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition was held and faced a lot of criticism. Monet had a leading role. The work “Impression, Sunrise” has since become representative of this. This show had an influence on younger art movements, such as Post-Impressionist, Fauvism, Cubism and Abstractionism.



Exhibiting such art allowed people to explore the phenomenon for the first time. These opinions led to several shows for the painters in later years. Influences from exhibitions in Paris then travelled to Impressionists in the U.K. and Germany, becoming denser and passing on a different feeling. The Impressionist exhibition in Paris was held eight times. They were looking at stopping the flow of time, a thinking connected with Fauvism and the works of Abstractionism. Fauvism used a lot of rough brush strokes to express emotions.



The artists in the exhibition have rejected all this. Initially, their works were gathered in a shabby exhibition of Impressionists. At the time, one critic said that they are really impressive "flat works," meaning that they don't meet any of the requirements for fine art. Of course, evaluations today are different. Also, the Impressionists themselves had different opinions from critics at the time. Paris was ahead of its times, ahead of the 20th century.

http://www.sac.or.kr/program/schedule/view_english.jsp?seq=23877&s_date=20150911


The exhibition will run until March 1.

http://www.sac.or.kr/program/schedule/view_english.jsp?seq=22762&s_date=20160114


Artist Piet Mondrian is mostly responsible for the background images. Famous works by Kandinsky and Mondrian were made by simplifying landscapes. They tried to create an element of a painting, one by one. Also, Alberto Giacometti’s works are also on show. Some months ago, there was an exhibit here about Modigliani. I remember that Picasso, Giacometti and Modigliani all worked with both paintings and sculptures. They tell the story of Africa, African arts and beauty.



Leaving the Opera House, visitors can see a range of sculptures by Korean artists.



The sculptures are located in front of the Youth Academy building. I originally came just to see the Impressionists: Manet, Monet, Millet and the others. However, I must give a big hand to the sculptures. They are quite impressive.



In front of Opera Hall, there are many outdoor sculptures.



Next to the Seoul Arts Center, there's the National Gugak Center that focuses on performances of traditional music and dance. The surrounding plaza is filled with the sounds of traditional Korean music being played through speakers. Many instructional classes and performances are scheduled for the day. In addition, there are also online classes.



http://www.gugak.go.kr/site/main/index002





By An Sang-young
Korea.net Honorary Reporter
Photos: An Sang-young