Who Is the Woman on Korea's 50,000 Won Note? Shin Saimdang, Artist of Insects and Flowers

The woman on South Korea's 50,000 won banknote is Shin Saimdang (1504–1551), a painter, calligrapher and poet of the Joseon dynasty, and the mother of the famous Confucian scholar Yi I. When the note was issued in 2009, she became the first woman to appear on a South Korean banknote. She is admired today for delicate paintings of insects and flowers, but her place on the money has also sparked debate about how Korea remembers women.

A daughter educated like a son

Shin Saimdang was born in 1504 in Gangneung, on Korea's east coast, at her mother's family home, Ojukheon, which is still preserved today. In Joseon society, formal education in literature and philosophy was generally reserved for sons. Because her parents had no sons, Saimdang received that kind of education: literature, Neo-Confucian learning, calligraphy and painting.

"Saimdang" is one of her pen names, artistic names that scholars and artists of the time used alongside their given names.

Marriage and family

In 1522, at 17, she married Yi Won-su. They had several children. For long periods she lived with her mother in Gangneung to care for her, which was unusual at a time when wives were expected to live with their husband's family.

The art of small things

Saimdang's best-known works show small, often overlooked parts of nature: insects, flowers, grapes, melons and landscapes. Around 40 ink and colour paintings are said to survive, and she is associated with the genre known as chochungdo, paintings of plants and insects.

Her paintings are prized for precise observation and gentle colour: a grasshopper on a stalk, a butterfly near a flower, a mouse nibbling at a vegetable. There is a well-known story that one of her insect paintings was so lifelike that a chicken tried to peck it. Like many such tales about artists, it is best enjoyed as a legend about her skill rather than as a recorded fact.

Calligraphy and poetry

Painting was only part of her work. In Joseon Korea, calligraphy was considered one of the highest arts, a test of both skill and character, and Saimdang was respected as a calligrapher as well as a painter. She also wrote poetry. Some of her poems express longing for her mother in Gangneung, a theme that has made them especially moving to Korean readers, since they come from a daughter who chose to stay close to her family at a time when that was not expected of women.

Mother of a great scholar

Saimdang's son, Yi I, also known by his pen name Yulgok, became one of the most important Neo-Confucian philosophers and statesmen of the Joseon dynasty. He appears on the South Korean 5,000 won note, which makes Saimdang and Yulgok the only mother and son pictured on the country's currency.

Later generations honoured her with the title Eojin, "wise mother", and held her up as a model of Confucian ideals.

Why her place on the 50,000 won note is debated

When she was chosen for the 50,000 won note, the decision was celebrated as a milestone for women. But feminist critics argued that the choice reinforced a narrow, traditional view of women's roles, honouring her mainly as the ideal mother of a famous son rather than as an artist in her own right.

Both views tell us something. Saimdang was a remarkable artist whose talent was recognised in her own time, and she has also been used as a symbol of what later societies wanted women to be.

She died in 1551. Her paintings, and the house in Gangneung where she was born, still draw visitors who want to see the woman behind the banknote.

Learn with Shin Saimdang: English phrases about art

Phrase	Meaning	Example
an eye for detail	the ability to notice small things	She has an eye for detail.
lifelike	looking very real	The painting of the grasshopper is lifelike.
a role model	a person others want to copy	She is a role model for young artists.
in her own right	because of her own achievements	She was a great artist in her own right.
the small things in life	everyday details that matter	Her art celebrates the small things in life.

Try this: Look at a small object or plant near you and describe it in three English sentences "with an eye for detail", using one colour word and one verb of movement.