National Museum of Korea Director You Hong-june gives a special lecture on Joseon-era painter Danwon Kim Hong-do at the museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin
While the National Museum of Korea may be best known for its wildly popular souvenirs, there is something else that makes the place a hot cultural destination: its own director, You Hong-june, a star cultural commentator and public intellectual, and his popular public lectures.
Over the past year and into early this year, You — former head of the national heritage agency, Korean art history professor and writer — has invited the general public to the museum for story-driven special lectures on the arts world and lives of the painters featured in the museum’s ongoing exhibitions.
This week, he returned with a two-hour immersion in art and history about Danwon Kim Hong-do (1745-1806?), the beloved painter cherished for his vivid depictions of everyday life, landscape paintings and pioneering realism during the 1392-1910 Joseon Dynasty.
The 750-seat auditorium was filled to capacity, with a cross-generational crowd ranging from Gen Z students to middle-aged office workers and retirees with gray hair, many clutching exhibition leaflets and notebooks. Online registration for the free event closed just one hour and 40 minutes after opening.
