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Suseong-dong Valley, as it was pictured: Museum brings centuries-old paintings to life

Published: 23 May. 2025, 14:29

Jo Ji-yoon, curator at the Leeum Museum of Art, explains and compares Jeong Seon’s painting with the current landscape at Suseong-dong Valley on Mount Inwang in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 2. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Where was the most coveted neighborhood during the late Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)? The answer would be found in true-view landscape paintings by the artist Jeong Seon (1676–1759), whose pen name was Gyeomjae.

A native of Seoul, Gyeomjae painted not only iconic sites like Mount Kumgang, but also many scenes of the capital, including his famed “Inwangjesaekdo,” or “Scene of Mount Inwang After Rain” (1751). Among them is the album of paintings titled “Jangdongpalgyeongcheop,” or "Eight Scenic Views of Jangdong," a neighborhood nestled between Mount Bugak and Mount Inwang — present-day Seochon in central Seoul.

The area, historically known as Jangdong, covered modern-day Cheongun and Hyoja-dong. Members of the Andong Kim clan who rose to high social ranks and lived in the neighborhood would be known as the “Jangdong Kims,” earning a reputation as the “Medicis of Joseon” for their political and cultural influence.

Though their homes have vanished amid the upheavals of the 20th century, Gyeomjae’s “Jangdongpalgyeongcheop” offers a visual trace of their legacy. Two versions of the painting are currently on display at the Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin, Gyeonggi, as part of its Jeong Seon retrospective.

“It’s exactly like the painting,” exclaimed a couple standing before a signboard near the Suseong-dong Valley in Jongno District, central Seoul, where the village bus Jongno No. 09 ends. Behind the sign, a stone bridge stretches over a ravine surrounded by boulders and thick trees, with Mount Inwang rising majestically in the distance. This valley is the only scene in the “Jangdongpalgyeongcheop” that still closely resembles Gyeomjae’s original vision — and that is no coincidence.

Suseong-dong in Jeong Seon's ″Jangdongpalgyeongcheop″ [HOAM MUSEUM OF ART]

“This site was actually restored based on Gyeomjae’s painting,” said Jo Ji-yoon, curator at the Leeum Museum of Art, who co-curated the Hoam exhibition. “In 1971, an apartment complex was built here to rehouse residents of the shantytown. Thirty years later, the apartment was destroyed and was set to undergo a restoration project when a Joseon-era stone bridge buried under cement was revealed. Researchers identified it as the Girin Bridge — the same bridge in Gyeomjae’s Suseong-dong painting. The Seoul Metropolitan Government restored the valley in 2011, taking after Gyeomjae’s composition.”

Suseong-dong Valley was historically a cultural hub, once home to Prince Anpyeong in the early Joseon period and later a center for literary gatherings of the middle class.

“It was one of the most celebrated scenic spots of the time, known especially for the cooling sound of the water in summer,” Jo said.

Still, no modern photograph aligns perfectly with Gyeomjae’s Suseong-dong painting. The scene was painted using bird’s-eye perspective, with Mount Inwang brought dramatically closer.

“Jeong Seon restructured the landscape to capture the full atmosphere where the foot of Mount Inwang, Girin Bridge and the valley harmonize beautifully,” Jo explained. “That’s what distinguishes a true-view painting that captures the essence of nature from a simple depiction of reality.”

Before the 18th century, most Korean landscape art either depicted imagined idealized scenes or borrowed from Chinese traditions. While real landscape paintings did exist, they were often utilitarian — like maps or event records. Gyeomjae’s true-view works were different: They applied those idealizing traditions to actual Korean scenery.

According to the Hoam exhibition catalog — a joint publication by the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation and Samsung Foundation of Culture — Gyeomjae’s 18th-century milieu saw a rise in domestic travel across mountains and streams following political and economic stabilization after war. Wealthy patrons commissioned albums of paintings to commemorate journeys or to enjoy armchair travel through art.

The Pirundae hill featured in Jeong Seon's ″Jangdongpalgyeongcheop,″ which is now inside Paiwha Girls' High School. [MOON SO-YOUNG]

The Pirundae hill featured in Jeong Seon's ″Jangdongpalgyeongcheop″ [HOAM MUSEUM OF ART]

Jeong Seon himself traveled frequently to Mount Kumgang. He also captured his hometown of Jangdong — the neighborhood most admired by Joseon’s elite — in multiple versions of the “Jangdongpalgyeongcheop.” The Hoam show includes the versions owned by Kansong, created when Jeong Seon was around 76, and the version from the National Museum of Korea, made in his early 80s.

Both versions feature scenes believed to be in the Blue House.

The journey through Gyeomjae’s landscapes begins best at Pirundae, a hill on the southern foot of Mount Inwang, near Gyeongbokgung Station. Once an ideal spot for viewing spring blossoms and writing poetry, it is now part of Paiwha Girls’ High School. Though the view is blocked, the cliffside and its inscribed poem offer a glimpse into the past.

From Pirundae, climbing the uphill Ogin 5-gil leads to the former site of Cheonghuigak. No pavilion remains, only a tree-shaded trail.

Jo explained that the son of the original owner of the pavilion, a celebrated writer, was Jeong Seon’s mentor, traveling often with him to Mount Kumgang.

“The name Cheonghuigak means ‘clear sunlight after rain,’” Jo said.

True to its name, the area was filled with clear sunlight and a fresh breeze, and beyond the row of houses lining the downhill path, one could take in a sweeping view of Seoul’s high-rise buildings and Mount Namsan.

The fact that the houses were built in the higher points of Jangdong meant that the family who lived there was prestigious, according to Jo, who would later become the powerful Andong Kims — or the Jangdong Kims.

The Cheonghuigak featured in Jeong Seon's ″Jangdongpalgyeongcheop″ [HOAM MUSEUM OF ART]

By the 19th century, middle-class professionals, such as translators and physicians, had also moved into Jangdong, turning it into both a wealthy enclave and a literary haven.

The journey continues north to Cheongpunggye, located on Jahamun-ro 33-gil. Gyeomjae included this site in both albums and in several standalone works.

“King Yeongjo himself is even said to have visited this site,” Jo added.

Today, however, the tile-roofed house and towering pine trees depicted in Gyeomjae’s painting are long gone, replaced by rows of modern homes. Only a rock engraved with the phrase “Baeksecheongpung” — once visible in the garden of Cheongpunggye — remains beneath one of the houses. The phrase, meaning “clear wind for a hundred generations,” originates from the unwavering loyalty of Bo Yi and Shu Qi, legendary brothers from ancient China.

Intriguingly, just west of that rock stands the home of the Hyundai Group’s late founder, Chung Ju-young, and was inherited by Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung.

“Our home sits beneath Mount Inwang, with a large boulder standing firm to the right of the house,” late founder Chung wrote in his memoir. “It’s a good site, with the sound of mountain streams flowing and the wind brushing up and down along the hillside.”

Gyeomjae’s paintings, then, are not just about idyllic nature. They reveal a common human desire — to enjoy nature without giving up city life. This mirrors a late-Ming Chinese trend of urban reclusion, where the elite built lush homes in the city. The Jangdong Kims did the same.

While the Jangdong Kim clan succeeded in realizing that desire, many others clung to it in vain — a result of the growing economic and cultural divide between Hanyang, now Seoul, and the provinces.

Among the sites depicted in Jeong Seon’s ″Jangdongpalgyeongcheop,″ Suseong-dong Valley most closely matches his original painting, and for good reason. The site was restored based on Jeong Seon's artwork. [MOON SO-YOUNG]

The renowned scholar Jeong Yak-yong once told his sons, “If you lose your government post, stay close to Hanyang to avoid falling behind in culture.” Another scholar, Seo Yu-gu (1764-1845), lamented that writers stayed in Seoul despite poverty.

“In Gyeomjae’s ‘Jangdongpalgyeongcheop,’ these homes reflect not only wealth, but also the self-image of their owners,” said Song Hee-kyung, director of the Gyeomjae Jeong Seon Art Museum.

“It’s a cautious assumption, but most of the houses depicted in the ‘Jangdongpalgyeongcheop’ likely belonged to Jeong Seon’s patrons,” Jo added. “Given that he had many supporters to look after, there were probably more albums than the two featured in this Jeong Seon exhibition. Each patron may have owned an album that included a painting of their own home.”

At this point, it’s easy to feel disheartened — that, then as now, wealth was what truly mattered. But a walk toward Changuimun, the northern gate at the far end of the “Jeong Seon route,” lined with homes that share the breathtaking scenery of Mount Bugak, might just shift that perspective.

“Jeong Seon’s true-view landscape paintings insert the mountains and streams around us into the tradition of depicting idealized scenery,” Jo said. “In the end, they may be saying that paradise isn’t far away — it’s right beside us.”

Translated from JoongAng Sunday using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY MOON SO-YOUNG [[email protected]]