Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Land by Ahn Gyeon

After reading “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino, I rummaged through several abstract landscape paintings and came across “Dream Journey to Peach Blossom Land” by Ahn Gyeon. Tall, absurd mountain cliffs surrounded by thick fog and clear peach blossoms in this painting depicts a dream about paradise that Prince Anpyeong had back in early 1400s. When I first came across this painting in 2nd grade, I was so awestruck by such unrealistic and surreal landscape that I thought it visualized heaven or a godly place. Now that I look at it again, I am once again awed by the fact that painter Ahn Gyeon created this painting by simply hearing the descriptions about the dream; in other words, he created this from an abstract or even nonexistent idea. As I continue to think and draft about my invisible city, I also try to rely on my senses and my visual understanding of the words like how painter Ahn Gyeon did.

Articles I referenced include: Article 1 & Article 2