Other Mindset

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Wild Geese Descending to a Sandbar

Unidentified artist, Joseon Korea, late 15th–early 16th century. Korea, Joseon dynasty.

You are here

Thirty works are on view at a time, ten to a room. Every day at midnight UTC, the ten that have hung longest go back into storage and ten others come out, so each work hangs for three days and then rests for three. A work always returns to the same place on the same wall.

A tall hanging scroll of pale ink: misty mountains, trees by a shore and wild geese descending toward a sandbar at dusk.
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0). Select it for the full size.

This hanging scroll belongs to an old and much-loved theme called the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers. The theme began in China and was taken up by painters in Korea and Japan. Each view captures a particular mood of place and season: autumn moon, evening snow, a night rain, a distant temple bell. This one is the moment when wild geese come down to rest on a sandbar at dusk. Low mountains appear and disappear in mist, a few trees stand by the shore, and the ink is soft and pale throughout. The painter has left a great deal unsaid. The geese are only a few marks, but the whole picture leans toward their landing.

Look closely

  1. Find the geese. How few marks did the painter use?
  2. Look for the sandbar where they will land.
  3. Find the mountains in the mist. How many can you count?

While you sit

Dusk, and birds coming down to rest. You can come to rest as well.

Your seat in the galleries: a low, pale sandstone bench with a soft linen pad, like a dry sandbar.

About the work

Title
Wild Geese Descending to a Sandbar
Artist
Unidentified artist, Joseon Korea
Date
late 15th–early 16th century
From
Korea, Joseon dynasty
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Size
Image: 49 3/4 × 19 1/4 in. (126.4 × 48.9 cm)
Rights
Public domain
Image
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)
Record
The museum's page for this work

The words on this page were written for the campus, not taken from the museum's label.

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