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Mar 11, 2013akirakato rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Chi-hwa-seon (Painted Fire) is a 2002 South Korean drama directed by Im Kwon-taek about Jang Seung-up (Oh-won), a nineteenth-century Korean painter who changed the direction of Korean art. Jang Seung-up (張承業 / 장승업:1843–1897) was a painter of the late Joseon Dynasty in Korea. His life is dramatized in this movie. He was one of the few painters to hold a position of rank in the Joseon court. Growing up as an orphan, Oh-won learned painting while staying at another family's house. He first had the opportunity to paint extensively when he was taken into the household of aristocrat Yi Ung-heon in his 20s. Later, his talent became widely known, and he painted extensively in all genres of the time, including landscapes, flower paintings, and paintings of daily life. Together with the earlier painters Danwon and Hyewon, Oh-won is remembered today as one of the "Three Wons" of Joseon-period painting. Oh-won vanished without trace in 1897. According to legend, he went up Diamond Mountain and bacame an immortal hermit. It would be nice if the director looked into the days of the hermit.