Expo Kim En Joong

Kim En Joong (b. 1940) grows up in South Korea. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts (1959-1963) and majored in Art History (1965-1968) at Seoul University. Soon after, he converted to the Catholic faith, was baptized and left for Europe.

In Freiburg, Germany, he continued his studies in Art History at the Catholic University. In Paris, he entered the Dominicains de l’Annonciation in rue Faubourg – who have a very open attitude to modern and contemporary art.

Kim En Joong’s work is classified as lyrical abstraction. It looks very colorful and its visual power calls for depth. Kim En Joong prefers to find his subjects in the gospel. His work has an unprecedented and worldwide success. The exhibitions follow one another. In addition to works on canvas, Kim En Joong also designs stained glass windows, ceramics and makes many lithographs.

The close friendship with Godfried Danneels previously gave rise to the creation of two joint art books. Thus, they concretized a permanent dialogue between East and West in the editions La Croix (2002) and La Résurrection (2008). The Cardinal wrote meditation texts that Kim En Joong in turn redrew with his abstract imagery. That intense collaboration led to an exhibition in the new Cardinal Danneels space.