The overseas touring exhibition of the late Lee Kun-hee Collection will reach its finale in London next month, after stops in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. While the U.S. exhibitions focused on the Samsung chairman's donation to the state and public enjoyment of art, the London show centers on Korea itself, tracing the essence of Korean culture along a historical arc.
The National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) said on the 21st that "Korea: 2000 Years of Creativity," an overseas touring exhibition of works donated by the late Chairman Lee, will open October 1 at the British Museum in London.
The exhibition features 164 objects in 79 lots from the National Museum of Korea and 15 lots from the MMCA. Among them are 27 objects in 10 lots designated National Treasures — including the Bronze Objects from Bisan-dong, Daegu, on public view for the first time — and 23 objects in 13 lots designated Treasures, offering a broader view of Korean history and culture.
In the gallery facing the Great Court, the British Museum's signature space, a time tunnel runs through Korea's long history. Visitors walk the tunnel past major artifacts from each era, and side passages open onto rooms spanning antiquity to the present, where the cultural heritage of each period can be viewed.
Part 1, "Wealth and Power," examines the formation and development of political power in ancient Korean states as productivity and accumulated wealth grew, through archaeological artifacts from the early Iron Age to the Unified Silla period and Buddhist art of the Three Kingdoms period. Unlike the two earlier U.S. stops, archaeological artifacts make up a larger share, with metalwork and earthenware from the Three Kingdoms period including a wing-shaped crown ornament, gilt-bronze shoes and earthenware decorated with clay figurines.
Part 2, "Wisdom and Beauty," highlights the technical skill, refined aesthetics and elevated taste found in Goryeo-era Buddhist paintings and illuminated sutras, celadon and metalwork. Part 3, "Learning and Pleasure," looks at the scholarship, self-cultivation and values of Joseon-era Confucian scholars, and offers a space to appreciate late Joseon painting, including Jeong Seon's "Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang" and Kim Hong-do's "Ode to the Sound of Autumn."
The final section, Part 4, "Individuality and Society," looks into the lives of Koreans through a turbulent era from the Korean Empire period to the present, with works by Park Soo-keun, Kim Whanki, Lee Jung-seob and Chang Ucchin held by the MMCA and the British Museum.
The touring exhibition is based on "Invitation from a Collector" (2022), a special exhibition jointly organized by the two institutions to mark the 2021 donation to the state by the family of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee. It follows "Korea's Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared," held at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. in November 2025, and "National Treasures of Korea: 2000 Years of Korean Art," held at the Chicago museum in March 2026, both of which drew strong turnouts. The British Museum show is the third and final stop.
Global enthusiasm for K-culture connects to the long traditions of Korean art in this exhibition. Two prime examples are "Sun, Moon and Five Peaks" and "Magpie and Tiger," which appeared in the hit animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" last year. "Sun, Moon and Five Peaks," notable for its intense colors and symbolism, appears on the exhibition poster, while "Magpie and Tiger," which captures a distinctly Korean humor and vitality, is on display for the first time.
Encouraged by the sellout of MU:DS merchandise from the Korea National Museum Foundation within a week during the Washington, D.C. exhibition, the British Museum will also offer cultural merchandise based on the two works. The museum has been extending interest in K-culture toward cultural heritage through a NewJeans audio guide tour in 2024 and "Korea Gallery Trail," a participatory program created with BTS in July this year.
The modern and contemporary art closing the exhibition spans Korean-style painting, oil painting, sculpture and video installation, showing the dynamic changes in Korean art since modernization. "Paradise" (1936) by Paik Nam-soon, a first-generation woman painter working in Western styles, is an oil painting in the form of an eight-panel folding screen that boldly combines Eastern and Western styles. Park Soo-keun and Chang Ucchin made the forms and materials of Western art their own to depict the lives of ordinary people around the time of the Korean War, while works by Park No-soo, Park Rehyun and Park Saeng-kwang show both the inheritance and transformation of Korean painting traditions.
Shin Hak-chul's "Modern History of Korea — Synthesis" (1982-83), a major minjung art work about 3.9 meters tall that was not shown in the United States, reveals one facet of Korean art in the 1980s, when socially critical historical consciousness ran high. Paik Nam-june's video sculpture "Brahms" (1993) combines Western classical music with electronic technology and visual art, revealing the distinctive innovation of Korean art.
The British Museum in London has paid attention to exhibitions of Korean art since the 1984 special exhibition "5,000 Years of Korean Art," and has revitalized its Korea gallery by borrowing works from the National Museum of Korea since 2000. This exhibition is also seen as a result of the Korean government's program supporting the Korea gallery. Also on view are the British Museum's lacquered sutra box with mother-of-pearl chrysanthemum and scroll patterns, Yi Myeong-gi's "Portrait of Chae Je-gong," and recently acquired contemporary works by Kang Ik-joong, Lee Soo-kyung and Suh Do-ho, illuminating the past and future of the museum's Korean art collection.
Yoo Hong-june, director of the National Museum of Korea, plans to give lectures on Korean culture and art at the University of Cambridge and SOAS University of London in connection with the exhibition. These follow earlier lectures in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, making London the third stop.
"The overseas touring exhibition of works donated by the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee, which met with great success in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, will present a new story of Korea in Britain with a fuller lineup including more National Treasures and Treasures," Yoo said. "I hope many K-culture fans across Britain and Europe will visit London to find the roots of K-culture, which is enjoying worldwide popularity."
