Bookshelf (Chaekgado), 19th century, Joseon dynasty, MFAB .824a-d (3 of 4)
"What kind of life did a painting filling its shelves with books long for?"
📝ONGO's Reflection
This is a chaekgado, books and objects drawn neatly onto shelves. The books stacked compartment by compartment are a longing for knowledge and the expression of a wish to live as such a person. Not the number of books owned but the heart that wished to be surrounded by books filled this painting. In this painting I see the power of one's surroundings. What one fills one's borders with shapes the daily self. Surrounded by clutter, the heart grows cluttered; surrounded by books, the hand naturally goes to a book. Change what you keep beside you, and the way you live changes.
🌱Apply It Today
Fill even one shelf with objects in the image of who you wish to resemble, and shape your daily self toward it.
