Houses that the painter left in Singal

Both traditional and western style houses are reminiscent of the houses in his paintings

Who is the favorite Korean artist? Park Soo Keun, Lee Jung Seob, Kim Whan Ki, and Chang Ucchin will always be in the top ranking. Chang Ucchin's paintings bring together people, houses, trees and animals, making viewers smile. They have a clear and warm energy.

After resigning from his professorship at Seoul National University in 1960, he lived in quiet rural areas far from Seoul, including Deokso in Namyangju and Suanbo in Chungcheongbuk-do. It was in 1986 that he settled in Mabuk-ri, Guseong-myeon, Yongin-gun. He renovated the thatched house built in 1884, and put tiles on the roof. Three years later he built a two-story Western-style house with red bricks. This house became his last residence when he passed away in 1990.

The hanok (Korean traditional house) is standing on the lower side, and right next to it, the western-style house on the upper side. They resemble the thatched or tile-roofed houses under a tree in Chang’s paintings. Did the painter settle in this area because he found the houses that he had dreamed of? The red brick house on the back side was modeled on the red western-style house in his painting "Landscape with Cars", so it is natural that visitors feel as if they entered the pure, warm world of Chang's painting while looking around between these houses.

In front of these houses is the cafe "Jibunheon". It also sells books and art products related to Chang. Chang Hye-su, his third daughter, and her husband Kim Ik-seong have run this cafe since returning to Korea from the US, where they had done business, to lead the Chang Ucchin Foundation.

● Chang was born in Songnyong-ri, Dong-myeon, Yeongi-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. The village currently belongs to Yeongdong-myeon in Sejong City. The city is promoting commemorative projects including building a memorial park near his birthplace.  

● There is a square pavilion with a thatched roof on the hill behind the hanok. It has the signboard on which Chang wrote the pavilion's name, "Gwaneodang".

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