Scenery on Dano Day (단오풍정 端午風情)
Dano (단오 端午) is a traditional holiday that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. On this day, Koreans believed that the yang energy (the active male principle of the human body in Chinese medicine) was at its peak. Along with Seol (Lunar New Year’s Day) and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day), Dano was celebrated as one of the three major holidays during the Joseon era. On Dano day, women who usually spent most of their time in the women’s living rooms engaged in outdoor activities; in groups, they headed to the outskirts of the village and played on the swings. During the festival, women enjoyed themselves by preparing food, washing their hair in water infused with sweet flags (창포 changpo) to make their hair glossy, and wearing makeup using morning dew from flower petals.

In his famous painting “Scenery on Dano Day” (단오풍정 端午風情), Shin Yun-bok vividly describes the festive spirit of Dano by portraying four women bathing and resting by the creek and tidying their hair washed in water boiled with sweet flags. Shin’s artistically excellent works reveal meticulous depictions of traditional lifestyles of the Joseon era.

Shin Yun-bok, a Painter of Mystery
Along with his contemporaries Danwon Kim Hong-do and Kim Deuk-sin, Shin Yun-bok is regarded as one of the three most renowned painters of the Joseon era. Despite his fame and success, however, most of Shin’s life is shrouded in mystery. In Geun-yeok-seo-hwa-jing (근역서화징 槿域書畵徵), a book that lists the names of Joseon painters, the writer Oh Se-chang offers the following information about Shin:

“Name of the artist: Shin Yun-bok, Pen name: Hyewon, Place of Birth: Goryeong, Name of father: Shin Han-pyeong, Expertise: Pungsokhwa (풍속화) or Genre Paintings.”

Based on this historical document, Shin is believed to have lived in Joseon from the late 18th century to early 19th century. Oh Se-chang’s description of Shin reveals that Shin was skilled in pungsokhwa, a form of paining that depicted common people’s daily lives. Shin’s contemporaries Danwon Kim Hong-do and Kim Deuk-sin are also widely known as genre painters; their works feature every-day life settings including but not limited to seodang (private village schools), taverns, and wash places, delivering a powerful visual impact.

Among others, Shin Yun-bok is known for his candid portrayals of love between men and women. Shin’s famous works including “Lovers Under the Moon,” (월하정인 月下情人), “Praiseworthy Lotus,” (연당야유 蓮塘野遊), and “Boating Party” (선유도 船遊圖)depicts yangban (양반, men from the noble class) having affairs with Gisaeng (기생) or Ginyeo (기녀) who were female entertainers of low social rank, satirically mocking the lifestyles of the hypocritical yangban class.
Shin is also recognized for his realistic depictions of women. In his masterpiece “Portrait of a Beauty,” (미인도 美人圖), Shin uses rich and vibrant hues to capture and delineate the beauty of a Joseon woman. The idea of portraying women as the subjects of paintings was considered revolutionary in the Confucian society at the time, but Shin challenged long-held cultural norms and produced a collection of artistically valuable and thematically provocative works.
In 2007, “The Painter of the Wind,” a fictional book on the lives of Shin Yun-bok and Kim Hong-do was published, igniting public interest in the works of Joseon’s genius painters. A new interest in traditional art triggered what was dubbed “Shin Yun-bok syndrome,” which led to the production of various media contents including the drama “The Painter of the Wind,” and the movie “Miindo” in 2008.