Korean Drama Review: Painter of the Wind (SBS 2008)

Painter of the Wind (SBS 2008)  is the fictional story  of the relationship between two of Joseon’s most famous artists: Sin Yun-bok (1758–1813) and Kim Hong-do (1745-1806/14?). Shin Yun Bok (Moon Geun Young) is a young student at the Dohwaseo Royal Academy of Painting. Kim Hong Do (Park Shin Yang) is her teacher.

I watched this drama because I love the paintings of Sin Yun-bok. The story, which is based on a novel, cleverly includes many of the famous paintings. In fact, the plot reminds me of the musical Mama Mia. Mama Mia has a story based around Abba songs, Painter of the Wind weaves a storyline around the paintings of the two artists! I like how the work of the two artists is compared in the drama. They can interpret the same scene in totally different ways.

The geek in me was hoping to learn a bit more about the nitty gritty of the technical aspects of Joseon painting such as how the paint was made and how royal portraits were actually executed at the time. But this drama doesn’t really get into that. It’s much more focused on making an entertaining story. How very dare they! 

Painter of the Wind also reminds me of Coffee Prince in some ways, but the romance element is far more toned down. The comedy is fun and the portrait theme added another element to the story for me. 

related posts:

chart of Joseon Kings and related historical dramas 

Painter of the Wind Plot

The plot stems from the troubles of new king, King Jeongjo (r. 1776-1800) and his quest for legitimacy as King and to restore the name of his father Prince Sado – who died in the rice chest)..

One way to do this was through Royal Portraits.

It’s 1777 and King Jeongjo (Bae Soo Bin) has recently become king. But he’s facing opposition from his political enemies. Messages are put up around the city denouncing him saying that he is the son of a criminal (Prince Sado).  This is a problem as the son of a criminal can’t receive the mandate of heaven and become king.

So he decides to commission a royal portrait to give his position more authority and legitimacy. Hong-do and Yun-bok are given the honour (and responsibility) of completing the portrait.

For a painter at the Academy, this was a great honour and the pinnacle of their career. It was lucrative too with awards, promotions, and pressies. But a portrait was also a political weapon, and the king’s enemies do everything in their power to stop the portrait from happening!

There’s mystery and intrigue too as we discover that somewhere there’s a portrait of Crown Prince Sado. On his death bed, King Yeongjo tells his grandson and future King Jeongjo to find it. This was a secret order but the painter was murdered and there’s no sign of the portrait.

Can Yun-bok and Hong-do find the portrait and bring the murderers to justice? Very exciting.

chart of Joseon Kings and related historical dramas 

Book Review: The Memoirs of lady Hyegyeong (wife of Prince Sado)

Why do Joseon kings have the title JO or JONG?

Royal Portraits 

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Who were Sin Yun-bok and Kim Hong-do?

Sin Yun-bok (1758–1813)  and Kim Hong-do (1745-1806/14?) are two of the most famous artists of the Joseon period. They were genre painters portraying the lives of ordinary folk. But they took different career paths.

Kim Hong-do was a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and favoured by the King. So he was part of the team who painted Royal Portraits of King Jeongjo.

On the other hand, Sin Yun-bok was a member of the Academy for a while, but left for unknown reasons. 

In fact, there is little information about the lives of either artist. Dramatically, this leaves plenty of opportunity for artistic licence. 

In the drama, the subject matter of Sin Yun-bok’s paintings is too saucy for the conservative elders in the Academy. Perhaps that’s why he left. And did the two painters really know each other? Their lives overlapped, so maybe they did.

Controversially, in the drama Sin Yun-bok is a woman. 

The rational behind this idea is that Sin Yun-bok did mostly delicate paintings of women, in particular gisaeng. The artist’s most famous work is Dano Day. It depicts gisaeng bathing as they prepare for the day celebrating the beginning of summer.

But how would a man be be allowed to paint half-naked women bathing? So perhaps he was really a woman…

It’s a superb performance by Moon Geun Young who is totally believable as a boy. Her character, Yun-bok, was adopted as a child and made to dress as a boy so that she could become a member of the Royal Academy of Painters (girls couldn’t enter).

So now she isn’t comfortable walking or talking like a lady. A couple of times she has to dress up as a woman (!) and so she becomes a woman pretending to be a woman. It’s comically awkward!

related posts:

Dano Day

What rice cakes are eaten on Dano Day?

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Reminiscent of Coffee Prince

The hugely successful romantic drama Coffee Prince (2007) came out just a year earlier than Painter of the Wind. And there are certainly similarities.

In Coffee Prince  Yoon Eun-hye plays a young woman pretending to be male so that she can get a job. When her boss (Gong Yoo, Kim ji-young Born 1982) starts being attracted to her, he wonders if he could be gay.

There’s a similar theme in Painter of the Wind. And humorous bromance interactions as Hong-do’s feelings for his young ‘male’ student develop. 

But whilst Coffee Prince is full-on romance addressing what LOVE is, (and the chemistry is HOT) this drama only dabbles with romance – or at least it’s more subtle.

I was ok with that.  Actually, I wasn’t that interested in the romantic element!

Yun-bok’s romantic feelings fluctuate between her muse, gisaeng entertainer Jung Hyang, and her teacher Hong-do.

But Yun-bok is very young – only 18. And it feels like a big age gap between her and her teacher. The ‘romance’ between Yun-bok and the gisaeng is also unbalanced since Yun-bok is not revealing her true identity.

My favourite scenes with the Gisaeng Jung Hyang (Moon Chae-won) are actually when she plays the gayageum slowing down the pace and creating a sombre mood. After listening to the soundtrack I got more interested in the gayageum.

The Baddies

I did enjoy the baddies.

The naughty folk are led by Queen Mother Debi-mama (Queen Dowager Yesun, consort of the late King Yeongjo) and several high level government ministers who all oppose the king.

Their dirty work is carried out by rich merchant (and man with issues) Kim Jo Nyeon (Ryu Seung-ryong Extreme Job (2019) ) 

I enjoyed his complex character. He has charm and a refined understanding of art. But on the other hand, he is mercenary, jealous, and brutally volatile. (Ryu Seung-ryong also stars as the sinister baddie in the fabulous zombie historical drama Kingdom.)

Painter of the Wind is a lot of fun. But I wonder what this drama would have been like if it had been made by director Lee Byong Hoon. He directed blockbusters with 50+ episodes including Jewel in the Palace (2004) and Yi San (MBC, 2008).

He was considering this story about Sin Yun-bok and Kim Hong-do for his next project. But he didn’t get the chance as he was pipped to the post by SBS. (I wrote about that here)

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