畫家
화가
畫 (to paint) + 家 (house/expert) — "one whose house is painting"
📖 Origin of the Hanja
The hanja "畫" depicts a hand holding a brush (聿) drawing boundaries on a field (田) — originally meaning "to draw lines", extended to painting. "家" means dwelling/expert. 畫家 = "one whose house is painting". The peaks of Korean painting are Joseon's Danwon Kim Hong-do (1745-1806) and Hyewon Shin Yun-bok (1758-?), who together created the golden age of genre painting. In East Asian art, painting is not mere representation but the drawing of a line between nature and one's own heart.
"The original meaning of 畫 is to draw a boundary. Painting is not what one draws but where one chooses to stop."
