As a world-renowned watercolor artist, he contributed to elevating Korean watercolor, previously considered nothing more than oil sketches, to the genre of painting, and devoted himself to developing the art culture of impoverished regions. In 1990, critic (PERRY A. BIALOR) evaluated Bae Dong-shin as having a “crazy obsession with painting” similar to Japan’s Fukunishi. Bae Dong-shin said in an interview that “if oil painting can be likened to meat-eating, watercolor can be called vegetarianism.” “If oil painting creates dynamic and dramatic emotions, watercolor conveys fresh and quiet beauty.” In this sense, the point of Bae Dong-shin’s watercolor can be said to be the pursuit of oriental aesthetics through westernization. Although Bae Dong-shin is a Western painter, he devoted himself solely to watercolor, depicting numerous landscapes, still lifes, mountains and fruits, nudes and portraits of women, and seascapes. Dong-shin has pursued the aesthetics of light and form throughout his life. He is also evaluated as having a rare style that is influenced by the Parisian style, passed through the Japanese style, and harmonizes the West and the East.