Welcoming Good Fortune: Folk Painting (minhwa) Exhibitions Ring in the New Year
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Museums and galleries across Seoul are presenting exhibitions of minhwa (Korean folk painting) and related art to celebrate the new year with themes of luck and protection. Gallery Hyundai’s show “Majesty and Creativity” pairs lively, popular minhwa scenes with refined Joseon court paintings, and highlights contemporary artists who reinterpret traditional motifs. The Bukchon Museum’s “福福福 Tiger Exhibition” focuses on tiger images—once seen as guardian spirits—that appeared in both folk and modern works alongside household objects. Several institutions also spotlight horse-themed displays (related to the zodiac) that explore horses as symbols of strength, freedom, and spiritual guides, including folk artifacts, historic saddles, and modern artworks in exhibitions at the National Folk Museum and the Shilla-and-heritage themed “Horse, Eternal Gallop” show at Shinsegae’s The Heritage. These exhibitions showcase how folk imagery served as prayers for family well-being and reveal connections between daily life, ritual, and contemporary reinterpretation.
