Hallasan

The whole painting is yellow.

Above hangs a sun like a round ring, and below it mountain ridges lie overlapping in a few black lines. This is Hallasan.

He did not paint the height of its peaks or the depth of its valleys in detail. Even without painting the whole mountain, the mountain stands complete.

Below the hill, a thatched house lies low, enclosed by a stone wall. In front are a horse and a stooped person.

The horse lowers its head, the person bends at the waist, and the house sinks lower to take the wind. These low things stay beside one another, each bending in its own way.

Only the mountain does not bend. It was there a thousand years ago, and is in the same place today. The bent things live leaning on its vast silence.

He did not explain Jeju. He only drew a line where the wind had passed. Even without painting the person in detail, we can see the days he has endured.

Here, the landscape is not a background behind a person. It is the posture in which a person has lived.