Korean painting represents the creative vigor and aesthetic sense of the Korean people.

Korean painting has developed steadily throughout its long history from the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668) to modern times.

The best known paintings of the Three Kingdoms period are the murals in the old tombs of Goguryeo, painted on the four walls and the ceiling of the burial chamber. While Goguryeo paintings were dynamic and rhythmic, the paintings of Silla were more meditative and meticulous. Silla's art bloomed after it unified the Three Kingdoms in the 7th century.


In the Goryeo period (918-1392), painting flourished in great variety, inheriting the artistic tradition of Unified Silla which marked the golden age of painting. Artists of the era created temple murals and Buddhist scroll paintings, marking a flourishing Korean Buddhism.

During the Joseon era, professional painters usually produced landscapes at the request of noble families. It was in the late 18th century that painters turned to the everyday life of people, probably under the influence of the Silhak (Practical Studies) movement following the Catholic missionaries introduction of European science and technology into Korea. Paintings with secular themes formed a new trend known as "genre painting,"


Kim Hong-do filled his canvas with scenes from the daily lives of the gentry, farmers, artisans and merchants. His precise but humorous depictions of subjects expressed the traditional Korean character. Paintings by anonymous artists, though less sophisticated in style than those by Confucian artist-scholars, dealt more with the daily life of common people and their aspirations and dreams. These paintings featured vivid colors and were free of conventional restraints.

Following Japan's forcible annexation of Korea in 1910, the traditional styles of painting were gradually overshadowed by Western oil painting styles that were introduced during that period and later became prevalent. After Korea's liberation from Japan's rule in 1945, traditional Korean painting styles were revived by a number of outstanding artists. At the same time, many Korean artists educated in Europe and the United States helped their home country keep up with the contemporary trends of the outside world.


In the 1950s, a government-run institution, the National Exhibition played a leading role in the advancement of Korean art. The National Exhibition had a rather formal and academic atmosphere and tended to choose works that were realistic. Young artists pursuing creativity in their works, therefore, sought an art in tune with the new age. From the late 1960s, modern Korean painting began to change its directions to geometrical abstraction. Other artists took a deep interest in subject matters that conveyed the innate unity between man and nature.

Korean paintings of the 1980s were largely a reaction to the modernism of the 1970s. During this period, artists strongly felt that art should convey a message dealing with current social issues. Since then, there has been an interest in the issues of modernism and post-modernism.

The art world of Paik Nam-june, the renowned video-artist.

In 1995, the International Gwangju Biennale was held. The event provided an opportunity for modern Korean artists to get together with leading figures from the international art world. Paik Nam-june's video art was one of the most prominent exhibitions. In Korea today, both traditional and Western-style painting are taught and pursued, producing one of the most versatile communities of fine arts in the world. Many Korean painters are active in New York, Paris and other centers of contemporary art.