The exhibition "From the Renaissance to Impressionism," which surveys 600 years of Western art history through masterworks, will open at night, with related special lectures also scheduled.
Gaudium Associates, a culture content company, said on the 13th it will hold the "Museum at Night: One More Ticket" event on alternate Fridays on the 23rd, and on the 6th and 20th next month. The program opens the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts museum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and each paying visitor can invite one companion for free. Visitors can view the exhibition with anyone, including family, partners, or friends.
The exhibition-linked special lecture program "600 years of Western art history through three perspectives" will also be held three times in total, every Saturday. The lectures feature three speakers with different backgrounds—Heo-se Art Museum Director IAAN, Jeon Won-kyung, a professor at Sejong Cyber University, and writer Gabino Kim—each interpreting Western art history and the works on display from their own perspective. The lectures will be held at 5 p.m. every Saturday on the 17th, 24th, and 31st at the auditorium inside the exhibition hall of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts museum. There is no separate participation fee, and visitors who purchase a ticket for the exhibition that day can attend on a first-come, first-served basis.
The first lecture on the 17th will be given by Director IAAN. Through the YouTube channel "Heo-se Art Museum," the director has delivered art history and contemporary art in a characteristically direct and witty style. The director lived in Spain for 10 years and worked as a professional docent at the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the Reina Sofía Museum. The lecture will introduce Spanish art, from El Greco's mystical expressionism to Zurbarán's restrained Baroque style, Murillo's warm humanism, and Goya's radical modernity.
On the 24th, Professor Jeon will give a lecture on the theme "How to read Baroque and Neoclassical art." The professor earned a master's degree in art criticism from City, University of London, and a doctorate in the cultural content industry from the University of Glasgow, and has authored numerous books on art and cultural history. In this lecture, the professor will explain why Baroque, Renaissance, and Neoclassical works feel more difficult than Impressionist art and will present ways to understand those works through historical and social contexts.
"Impressionist painters originally painted with the purpose of sharing the 'visual experience' they felt with viewers, and that is why we can immediately feel the visual experiences that painters like Monet and Sisley expressed on canvas," Professor Jeon said. In contrast, Baroque and Neoclassical painting is grounded in more complex prior knowledge or the historical background of the time when the paintings were made.
Writer Gabino Kim will give a lecture on the 31st under the theme "Why is the lamb tethered: faces of the scapegoat—faith in paintings, us outside the paintings." Gabino Kim is a researcher and translator who has interpreted Western artworks based on Catholic faith from a religious perspective, and currently handles editing and review for the Korean office of the Vatican News of the Holy See. Focusing on Zurbarán's "Agnus Dei," Bosch's "The Arrest of Christ," and El Greco's "Penitent Saint Peter," the lecture will analyze the meaning of human sacrifice, repentance, and faith.