Heaven and Earth

Yun Hyong-keun (1928–2007) used only two colors. He thinned ultramarine and umber with turpentine and applied them to unprimed linen or cotton, where the paint soaked into the fibers and bled at the edges; where the two overlap they look black, yet there is no black paint in the picture. In 1977 he wrote that blue is heaven and umber is earth, hence “heaven and earth,” and that the composition is a “gate.” In the early 1970s he was detained after criticizing an improper admission at the school where he taught; afterward his paintings moved from bright colors to somber tones.

Look closely at the edge where the two colors overlap, and pick out the blue and the brown.

Where the two colors overlap, what color do they look?

• Dansaekhwa 단색화→Yun Hyong-keun is one of the leading Dansaekhwa painters.