VOL.77/2024.12

 

The Most Beautiful Moments in Life

Centered on the Artistic Life of Lee Jung-Seob

 

2024.11.04

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koreans’ most beloved artist, Lee Jung-Seob, is rediscovered through the eyes of a novelist.
The Most Beautiful Moments in Life: Centered on the Artistic Life of Lee Jung-Seob

 

Artists deeply immersed in their respective fields are profoundly inspired by each other’s works and organically influence each other within the genre of “art.”
After contemplating his life’s “hwayangyeonhwa (花樣年華; meaning ‘the most beautiful moments in life’),” Kim Tak-Hwan, a novelist for 30 years, eventually reached artist Lee Jung-Seob, best known for his masterpiece A Bull. This led to the novel The Best Moments in Life.
The Best Moments in Life, complete with reports, historical research, and interviews he conducted while imagining the landscapes where Lee would have stayed, walked, and gazed at, depicts the hwayangyeonhwa of Lee Jung-Seob’s art against the backdrop of Tongyeong, where some of the most notable artists of the 1950s came together to ignite a cultural renaissance.

 

“The best thing of all was just the time itself, running like the ocean, when I was completely immersed in painting.” - from the book

 

The Most Beautiful Moments in Life, the 32nd full-length novel by Kim Tak-Hwan, presents new images of artist Lee Jung-Seob in a collaboration of paintings and imagination, heightening the story’s novelistic appeal.
With Lee Jung-Seob and other artists having spent the best moments in Tongyeong, novelist Kim Tak-Hwan gives new values to various things through his novel, presenting the best hwayangyeonhwa to all artists, including himself.

 

Our hwayangyeonhwa is right now, right this moment.
The Most Beautiful Moments in Life: Centered on the Artistic Life of Lee Jung-Seob
Written by Kim Tak-Hwan, published by Namhaebomnal

 

 

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