Kim Tschang-yeul was born in 1929 in Maengsan County, South Pyongan Province in currently North Korea. As a child, he studied calligraphy under his grandfather's care and learned about paintings such as the Four Gracious Plants through calligraphy. He also learned how to draw from his maternal uncle during his study at Gwangseong Middle School in Pyongyang. This experience nurtured him a dream of becoming a painter. Before the joy of Liberation of 1945 could even subside, the Soviet army occupied North Korea, and he fled south.

After Kim Tschang-yeul (forth from the right in the back row) came to Seoul, he devoted himself to studying art and French. It was also at this time that he decided to go to France to study art properly after reading an art magazine published in Japan. Before entering university, he studied painting at private art academies such as Lee Kuk-jeon Institute and the Seongbuk Painting Institute of Lee Quede.

In 1949, Kim Tschang-yeul passed the plaster drawing test and entered the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University. At the time, the professors included Kim Whanki, Jang Bal, Kim Byung-ki, and Son Jae-hyung. However, he had to stop his studies in 1950 due to the outbreak of the Korean War. One day, he saw a recruitment notice for police cadets during the 1.4 retreat and entered the Police Academy, where he worked until 1960, taking on tasks such as chart production and being the head of the library.

Kim Tschang-yeul was dispatched to Jeju for almost two years between 1951 and 1953 right after he graduated the Police Academy in Busan. While not on duty, he interacted with the artists who had to flee from the mainland to avoid the Korea War. Evacuees began to arrive in Jeju in July 1950, reaching 150,000 in 1951. Along with the evacuees, cafes such as Dongbaek and Carnation appeared in Chilsung-Tong, one of the most popular commercial districts in Jeju City. Among them was a music cafe run by a refugee who brought thousands of music records with him. Here, Kim met the writer Gye Yong-muk. Thanks to this connection, Kim wrote poems and created drawings for the covers of the literary magazine Heuksanho (Black Coral) in 1953. The one-time magazine was edited by Gye Yong-muk and sponsored by Ko Soon-ha, the owner of the local bookstore, Wusaengdang. The person staring into the distance alone in the top row of the photo is Kim Tschang-yeul.

In the late 1950s, an increasing number of young artists in Seoul's art scene were opposed to the National Art Exhibition's absurdity. In 1957, Kim, along with Ha In-doo and Jeong Chang-seop, formed the Association of Contemporary Artists. This group advocated for modernity in art and emerged as one of the leading groups of younger artists. Around this time, the Jeju-born art critic Bang Geun-taek became close with the group and promoted expressionist abstraction as suitable for the times. The expressive abstraction they pursued is referred to as the hot abstract movement called Korean Informel, which expresses the scars of the Korean War. Thanks to the unstoppable progress of young artists including Kim Tschang-yeul and Park Seo-bo, the art world accepted abstraction. By 1960, abstract art had spread so quickly that abstract art was at the center of attention at the National Art Exhibition.

The Association of Contemporary Artists (or Hyundai Artists Association) experienced ups and downs in terms of members joining and leaving. However, the friendship of Kim and Park remained strong. A newspaper company took this photo and introduced the two as “newcomers to modern art.” Together, they represented the “Roaring Generation” through various activities, such as forming the Actuel Group in 1960 and holding a fundraiser for the construction of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1960. Ultimately, they created opportunities for Korean artists to participate in the Paris Biennale and the São Paulo Biennale. Having actively participated in these events, they are currently considered the pioneers who advanced Korean contemporary art overseas in the 1960s.

Kim Tschang-yeul continued studying French to fulfill his dream of going out into the world. He participated in the 2nd Paris Biennale in 1961 and the 1965 São Paulo Biennale as one of Korea’s representative artists. Although he was unable to attend the exhibitions in person, they served as an additional motivation to pursue his dream of going abroad. In 1965, Kim finally left Korea for the first time to attend a symposium by the International Artists Association in London. Afterward, he traveled to New York via Paris, encouraged by Kim Whanki, who had already settled there. Around the same time, Kim Byung-ki, the Korean commissioner for the 1965 São Paulo Biennale, also headed to New York. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, they toured the American art world together. While in New York, Kim studied printmaking at the Art Students League of New York, joined the New York Avant-Garde Art Festival, and observed contemporary New York art, including Pop Art and Minimalism, to find his own direction.

During his stay in New York, Kim Tschang-yeul made a living by doing various jobs with the help of the sculptor Han Yong-jin. One of these jobs involved spraying paint. He applied this technique to his own paintings, which he described as “surrealistic” and featureing shaded circles in the center. With the help of Nam June Paik, he participated in the New York Avant-Garde Festival alongside Han Yong-jin, presenting installations including a three-dimensional work made of plexiglass. However, he was disappointed to see art disappear rapidly in the New York art world. When the Rockefeller Foundation's sponsorship ended, he left New York to become a "painter of Paris".

After arriving in Paris, Kim Tschang-yeul set up an atelier and living quarters in a stable in Palaiseau, about 15 kilometers from Paris. One morning, he accidentally witnessed the brilliance of water droplets landing on a canvas, an experience that would later inspire his water droplet painting series. His first piece, featuring a single water droplet on a dark background, was exhibited at the Salon de Mai in Paris in 1972. The work drew the attention of the art world, convincing him to continue the series. He explored different shapes and expression techniques and finally he gained the title of “water drop artist”.

Kim Tschang-yeul held an exhibition in Kunsthaus in Hamburg in 1975. One of his exhibited works was featured on the cover of the European art magazine Art International: The Art Spectrum (May 1975 issue). This achievement signified the realization of his aspiration to become a “painter of Paris” and his formal introduction to the European art world. Afterwards, he began receiving invitations from galleries worldwide. The painting features countless droplets of water on the canvas. They appear abstract from a distance but up close, they resemble sparkling jewels. Created three years after his work What Happened at Night, the painting suggests that Kim Tschang-yeul underwent significant experimentation with patterns, size, arrangement, and background within a relatively short period. He evolved his style in multiple dimensions, beginning with a single droplet.

After his artwork was published on the cover of Art International, Kim received invitations to exhibit his work from galleries in Tokyo and Seoul. In 1976, he held solo exhibitions at the Tokyo Gallery in April and the Hyundai Gallery in May. Both exhibitions received significant attention, leading to sold-out shows. The May exhibition marked his return to Korea after an eleven-year absence. The Tokyo exhibition was attended by prominent figures closely connected to the Korean art world, including art critic Yusuke Nakahara, architect Jun Itami (a.k.a Yoo Dong-ryong), and artist Kwak In-sik. His solo exhibition in Seoul established Kim as the “Water Drop Painter” in Korea.

Alain Bosquet, a critic and poet, was the first to highly praise Kim Tschang-yeul's water drop works in Paris. In 1973, Bosquet happened to see Kim's first solo exhibition at the Knoll International Gallery while walking down the street. He then wrote a favorable review in the daily newspaper Combat, saying, “The water droplets have a rare hypnotic power.” In the November 1975 issue of Art International (Nov. 1975), Bosque published an in-depth analysis of Kim titled “Les Gouttes de Kim(Kim Tschang-yeul's Water Drops).” In it, he described Kim as the “most persistent artist” since Paul Klee and Wols, and wrote that his water droplets assimilate with the audience's spirit giving them “peace of mind”.

In the early 1980s, Kim Tschang-yeul began incorporating Chinese characters into his paintings of water droplet. Titled the Recurrence series, these paintings feature newspaper text or the Thousand Character Classic as a backdrop. This marked a pivotal shift in his artistic approach, following his breakthrough with his Water Droplets series. Initially, the Chinese characters served as a backdrop for the water droplets. However, by the late 1980s, they had become a key element closely intertwining with the water droplets. He was inspired by the the memory of learning the Thousand Character Classic from his grandfather in his youth. This choice reflected the artist's enduring connection to his hometown, a place he could never forget, even as he grew older. He employed texts in diverse ways: wrting characters freely in ink on hanji (traditional Korean paper), transferring printed typefaces onto the canvas, and experimenting with variations of characters using engraving and relief techniques. Through these methods, he combined Eastern philosophy with the concept of water droplets. Through the Recurrence series, he took a step closer to his cultural roots and demonstrated his deep affection for them. He continued painting the series until the end of his life.

The 1997 exhibition Made in France 1947-1997, held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, was a comprehensive display of postwar artistic creations from France over the past 50 years. It was curated by Germain Viatte, director of Musee national d’art moderne-Centre de creation industrielle to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his institution and the 20th anniversary of the Centre Pompidou. The exhibition showcased many artists from Matisse to Dubuffet presenting a multidisciplinary interpretation through subtopics such as color, existence in the world, imaginary space, symbol and time, and transformation of objects. In this exhibition, Kim Tschang-yeul was included in the 'Symbol and Time' section alongside Lee Ufan.

Kim Tschang-yeul's work has been introduced through large-scale retrospectives at leading art museums around the world in the 21st century. In 2004, while Daniel Abadie was the director of the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, the museum held a retrospective of Kim’s work. Since then, large-scale exhibitions have been held at the National Museum of China (2005), the Busan Museum of Art (2009), and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2012).

On September 24, 2016, the Kim Tschang-yeul Art Museum opened in Jeoji Culture and Art Village in Jeju Island. At the opening ceremony, Kim said, “My encounter with Lee Jung-seob in Jeju during my youth influenced my forty-five years of work in France,” and expressed his joy at the construction of the museum, saying, “I'm excited to find a place for my works to settle down.” In this photo, Kim responds to applause, surrounded by his wife, Martine; and his eldest son, Kim Simon.

Even after his death in 2021, Kim's art continues to be presented in museums and galleries around the world, including the Musee Cernuschi in Paris in 2023. His water drop works have been reinterpreted in various contexts, such as meditation, healing, and the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, and they continue to inspire many people.