The 20th century was a time of endless change, a historical transition period between traditional ideas and modernism. Although two years have already come and gone, leaving the past century as a ‘time of retrospect,’ there have been few opportunities to reflect on the past one hundred years. The National Folk Museum of Korea has thus arranged an exhibition, in an effort to reproduce the living culture of the 20th century, through the display of contemporary genre paintings. The project was ignited when 187 genre paintings, embodying the artist's heart and soul, and depicting traditional and modern life and culture, were donated to the museum by Lee Eok-yung, a master artist who has devoted his life to his paintings. The genre paintings by master Lee not only incorporate the diverse aspects of life in the 20th century, based on his own life experiences, but is also highly valued as material that gives us insight into the contrasting changes of modern culture. This exhibition aims to revive the living culture of the 20th century which harmonized the traditional and modern, by displaying the most significant thematic genre paintings, together with the National Folk Museum's collection of relics and related visual material. The introductory section is intended to describe the characteristics of Lee Eok-yung's genre paintings, through the coexistence of past and present cultures exhibited in his work, using 'Past-Present-Future, the Meeting of Tradition and Modern' as it's main theme.