[How About This Book] Comfort Conveyed by Masterpieces Resembling Life

The Lives of 17 Artists Embracing Pain Like a Knife Wound

At eighteen, the bus she was riding collided with a tram, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down for life. Her body was pierced by the bus's handrail iron bar, damaging her uterus, and eleven fractures occurred in her right leg. Her right foot was crushed, and she suffered multiple fractures in her lumbar spine, pelvis, clavicle, ribs, and pubic bone. She lay immobile for nine months and miraculously survived. She met her beloved, got married, but suffered three miscarriages due to the aftereffects of the accident and ultimately could not have children. The husband she loved betrayed her with her younger sister, inflicting a wound deeper than the bus accident.

This summarizes the life of Mexico's great female painter Frida Kahlo. Kahlo did not give up but immersed herself in painting, leaving behind numerous masterpieces. Though her life was marked by wounds, the title of the last painting she left behind was "Viva La Vida." Kahlo completed her final painting and passed away eight days later.

"Museum for the Wounded" is a book containing the stories of 17 artists who willingly embraced pain in their lives. Among the 17 protagonists, Kahlo appears first. The stories of Salvador Dal?, Gustav Klimt, and others follow. Like Kahlo's "Viva La Vida," they offer us words of comfort through their brilliant masterpieces. They say that if you endure and withstand the moments of pain, someday your life will also become a work of art, and all the wounds you carry will brighten with radiant colors.

Author Choo Myung-hee says, "Painting and life resemble each other," adding, "Just as life becomes stronger the more it endures deep wounds, paintings also become more sublime through the artist's pain."

Delicate brushstrokes, harmonious colors, beautiful subjects filling the canvas, and countless masterpieces in dazzling museums that moved the world exude a subtle aura that cannot be described as merely perfect. But beyond those perfect paintings lives imperfect humans writhing in pain. They did not ignore their wounds but fully accepted them, ultimately creating brilliant works.

The lives of countless artists in history were marked by all kinds of suffering such as poverty, illness, heartbreak, and loneliness.

Edvard Munch first felt the fear of death at the age of five when he saw his mother, who was coughing up blood from tuberculosis, pass away. He himself began coughing up blood at thirteen. He feared death, which followed him like a shadow, throughout his life. His wounds and fears became the foundation of the masterpiece "The Scream." Munch said, "All my works stem from reflections on illness," and "Without fear and pain, my life would have had no direction."

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, due to an accident and hereditary disease in childhood, was about 150 cm tall and used a cane for life. He was born into one of France's twelve noble families and was shunned by his father, who valued social standing. Lautrec healed his inner self through painting. At the Moulin Rouge club, opened on Montmartre Hill in 1889, he captured the worn and tired human nature hidden beneath the glamorous appearances of those gathered, leaving many masterpieces. He lamented, "If I had no disability, I would not have painted," feeling bitter about his situation. But through painting, he learned about humanity and life. He said, "Humans are ugly. There is fascination in that ugliness. That is why life is beautiful."

Vincent van Gogh's 1889 work "The Starry Night" is considered one of his greatest masterpieces. However, the place where he completed "The Starry Night" was a mental hospital in France.

Encountering great masterpieces is exciting in itself. Knowing the process of their creation doubles that excitement. You get to know the artist and feel their life. This book guides that path and perhaps offers comfort to readers who may have had a difficult day.

Museum for the Wounded | Written by Choo Myung-hee | Chaekdeul-ui Jeongwon | 368 pages | 19,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.