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Il Leeum Museum of Art ( in coreano : 리움미술관 ) è un museo situato a Hannam-dong , nel distretto di Yongsan , a Seul , in Corea del Sud. È gestito dalla Samsung Foundation of Culture. [ 1 ] È considerato uno dei tre principali musei d'arte privati della Corea del Sud. [ 2 ]
Il museo è composto da due parti: una ospita l'arte tradizionale coreana , l'altra l'arte contemporanea . La prima parte del museo è stata progettata dall'architetto svizzero Mario Botta , mentre la seconda dall'architetto francese Jean Nouvel e dall'architetto olandese Rem Koolhaas .
Il Museo 1 (M1) ospita una collezione di arte tradizionale coreana, di cui 36 pezzi sono stati designati tesori nazionali.
La collezione comprende paesaggi e dipinti popolari, ceramiche tradizionali e porcellane, come il Celadon e il Buncheong , una tradizionale terracotta coreana di colore verde-bluastro; pugnali, corone, orecchini e ornamenti del XIV secolo; e arte buddista, sculture, dipinti e manoscritti. [ 3 ]
Due grandi volumi geometrici, un cono rovesciato e una semplice forma esaedrica, costituiscono il Museo 1. Mario Botta ha utilizzato mattoni di terracotta sulla facciata dell'edificio. [ 4 ]
L'interno del Museo 1 comprende una hall, una rotonda e spazi espositivi. Il cuore del Museo Leeum è la hall del seminterrato, creata dal cono rovesciato che penetra nel terreno. Il Museo 2 e il Samsung Child Education & Culture Center sono tutti collegati qui. I visitatori del museo iniziano e terminano le loro visite in quest'area. Sopra la hall si trova la rotonda dalle pareti bianche. Gli spazi espositivi del Museo 1 sono esaedrici. I visitatori iniziano dall'alto e scendono, visitando ciascuno dei quattro piani, che ospitano ceramiche, spade, gioielli e altri manufatti tradizionali coreani. [ 4 ]
Il Museo 2 (M2), progettato da Jean Nouvel, ospita opere d'arte moderna e contemporanea di artisti coreani e stranieri. [ 5 ] Molti artisti famosi come Damien Hirst , Warhol , Rothko , Yves Klein e Donald Judd hanno spazi espositivi permanenti. [ 6 ] I livelli interrati del museo si affacciano sul giardino ribassato e sui muri in gabbioni. Le gabbie in gabbioni sono composte di ferro e riempite con rocce dissotterrate durante il processo di costruzione. Il giardino ribassato comprende betulle e felci. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
La sala espositiva principale utilizza tecniche di costruzione post-tensionate [ 7 ] per creare uno spazio completamente aperto senza pilastri di sostegno.
A Rem Koolhaas fu commissionata la progettazione del Samsung Child Education & Culture Center e del piano generale del museo. L'ingresso principale nella hall del Museo 1 avviene attraverso la struttura in vetro di Koolhaas. Entrando nel museo, i visitatori percorrono una rampa di legno e passano sotto un padiglione che delimita la soglia. Koolhaas ha utilizzato dei pilotis , che non solo illuminano la struttura ma offrono anche una vista sugli edifici circostanti e sul sito. Il rivestimento dell'edificio esterno a tre piani è composto da acciaio e vetro. All'interno, è stata creata una camera di miscelazione tra la parete di vetro e la scatola nera e il posizionamento di illuminazione, pilotis e rampe. [ 10 ] La scatola di cemento nera ospita mostre temporanee. [ 11 ]
Situato sopra il parcheggio, il Giardino delle Sculture espone opere scultoree. Il giardino è costituito da una lunga striscia rettangolare di ghiaia e vegetazione e dalla piattaforma di legno che la incornicia. Recentemente, due sculture Maman di Louise Bourgeois sono state esposte nel Giardino delle Sculture. [ 12 ] [ fonte migliore necessaria ] [ 13 ] [ verifica fallita ]
L'orario di apertura è dal martedì alla domenica, dalle 10:30 alle 18:00. La struttura è chiusa il lunedì, nonché durante il fine settimana di Capodanno, il giorno di Capodanno e il Chuseok.
Il biglietto d'ingresso generale costa 18.000 KRW, mentre giovani, adolescenti e anziani pagano 9.000 KRW ciascuno. Le persone con disabilità e i beneficiari di riconoscimenti nazionali al merito, insieme a un accompagnatore, possono entrare gratuitamente.
Leeum Museum of Art is dedicated to studying, preserving, and sharing Korea’s precious cultural heritage. To this end, the museum has amassed an exceptional collection of diverse traditional artworks spanning the length of our nation’s history, from prehistoric times to the Joseon Dynasty. In addition to their beauty and splendor, these representative works have tremendous value for cultural and historical research in a number of academic fields.
Leeum’s traditional art collection encompasses every type of Korean traditional art, including ceramics, calligraphy, painting, metal crafts, Buddhist art, wooden furniture, folk art, books, and documents. The largest portion of this collection is ceramics, featuring many treasures of celadon, buncheong ware, and white porcelain that have come to symbolize the prestige and stature of Leeum Museum of Art. The museum’s collection of paintings and calligraphy spans many centuries and subject matters, including iconic works by Joseon masters Jeong Seon and Kim Hongdo. Among the highlights are the astonishing Buddhist paintings of the Goryeo Dynasty, with their vibrant colors and incredible details. Adding variety to the collection are Buddhist sculptures, which are both sublime artworks and sacred objects of worship, as well as the elaborate metal crafts representing each period from the Bronze Age to the late Joseon Dynasty.
Serving as the permanent exhibition hall for traditional Korean art, the M1 building contains around 120 selected works that are organized according to the themes of each floor. The fourth floor features gorgeous celadon from the Goryeo Dynasty under the theme of “Designs on a Jade-Green Background,” while the third floor celebrates buncheong ware and white porcelain of the Joseon Dynasty with the theme “Journey of White Light.” The second floor presents a wonderful selection of paintings and calligraphy that represent the “Taste and Appreciation” of the people of the past. Finally, the first floor commemorates the “World of Authority, Faith, and Splendor” embodied by dazzling Buddhist artworks, metal crafts, and objects with inlaid designs of mother-of-pearl.
Celadon is a very special type of porcelain that was only produced in a few countries, including China and Korea. Celadon vessels were made from filtered clay, free from impurities, which was then carefully shaped and coated with a transparent green glaze before firing. During the golden age of Goryeo celadon, from the twelfth through the first half of the thirteenth century, an abundance of impeccable celadon objects were produced at the kilns in Gangjin, Jeollanam-do Province, and Buan, Jeollabuk-do Province.
Goryeo celadon is distinguished by its refined, elegant forms and mystical green glaze. The color of the celadon glaze, which the Goryeo people called “jade-green,” was a particular point of emphasis, with shades that conveyed a subtle but distinct dignity being considered the very best. These delicate fluctuations in color can also be felt in the contemporary paintings in this section, which were inspired by the tradition of Goryeo celadon.
For more diverse expressions, celadon potters used a number of different decorative techniques. Among these, inlaid celadon exemplifies the creativity and innovation of the Goryeo people, arousing admiration around the world as one of the true jewels of Korea’s cultural heritage.
Buncheong ware is a unique type of porcelain that was produced only in Korea, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. As such, it is often revered as the epitome of Korean beauty. Continuing the tradition of inlaid celadon of the late Goryeo period, buncheong ware was produced in earnest in the early Joseon Dynasty. Over time, the shapes and decorative techniques gradually changed and diversified to evince the local spirit and sentiment of each respective region. As such, some buncheong wares are neatly shaped with elaborate incised designs, while others have rough forms decorated with simple, freehand patterns and drawings. Produced for centuries by various social classes throughout the country, buncheong ware resonates with a natural, amiable sense of candor and familiarity.
Meanwhile, the Joseon Dynasty also achieved the highly refined culture of white porcelain, characterized by sharp forms, austere decorations, and a pure white glaze color. Shaped from white clay and neatly trimmed, Joseon white porcelain vessels could be painted with designs of different colors, made from various pigments, or else left undecorated. The vessels were then coated with a milky, transparent glaze before being fired, yielding a soft but stately elegance. In the early days, white porcelain was produced according to the taste of the ruling class, particularly the Joseon royal court. But over time, white porcelain became more widespread and diversified, solidifying its representative status in the culture of the Joseon Dynasty. White porcelain was made throughout the country, with the finest wares being produced exclusively for the royal court at the official kilns in Gwangju, Gyeonggi-do Province. This section also houses abstract contemporary works based on ancient ceramics, the art of shaping the earth itself.
Unlike ceramics made for daily use or Buddhist art made for worship, calligraphy and paintings were produced solely for visual appreciation. The galleries on the second floor feature masterpieces by the greatest painters and calligraphers of the Joseon Dynasty, including Jeong Seon, Kim Hongdo, and Kim Jeonghui, all of whom left their mark not only in Korea, but in the history of world art.
Compared to traditional Chinese or Japanese paintings, traditional Korean paintings are less exaggerated, with a greater emphasis on the pursuit of natural harmony. All paintings are usually appreciated in terms of their beauty and finesse, but these works also stand out for the superb balance of the individual details within the overall composition, the sophisticated play between the lines and the blank space, and the decisive feeling conveyed at a single glance, with no distracting elements. The contemporary works on this floor demonstrate how such aesthetic values have been transmitted to the present day.
After originating in India and spreading to China, Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the fourth century, during the Three Kingdoms period. From that time, Buddhism has had a major influence on many aspects of Korean culture and art, which continues to this day. Created as objects for worship, Buddhist sculptures attempt to express divinity through the human body. Goryeo Buddhist paintings show many unique details and delicate expressions that clearly distinguish them from contemporaneous Buddhist paintings of other countries, while the meticulously transcribed scriptures manifest the deep faith of Buddhist disciples seeking to accumulate good deeds. These traditional works are juxtaposed with contemporary sculptures on Buddhist themes, focusing on escaping the suffering of the human world through enlightenment.
Korea’s long legacy of advanced metalworking, which predates the introduction of Buddhism, served as the basis for Buddhist art to flourish. From the Bronze Age to the Three Kingdoms period, the people of Korea held strong beliefs about the afterlife, which led them to bury the deceased with gold crowns and ornate weapons, along with various other metal accessories and pottery figurines. While the lavishly decorated swords and gold ornaments clearly show the aesthetic taste and authority of the ruling power, metal crafts made for everyday life during the Unified Silla and Goryeo periods also feature advanced decorative techniques and detailed expressions that resonate with sincerity and craftsmanship.
outdoor deck
2026.04.03. –
Leeum Museum of Art presents Gabriel Orozco Garden, a site-specific installation by Gabriel Orozco (b. 1962, Mexico), on the museum’s outdoor deck. As the museum’s first commissioned garden project since its opening in 2004, the work redefines the deck beyond its previous role as an outdoor sculpture garden, transforming it into a living sculpture, where architecture and nature converge with public engagement.
For over two decades, Leeum’s outdoor deck has been defined by a succession of monumental, vertical landmarks. Works such as Alexander Calder’s Grand Crinkly (2004–2005), Louise Bourgeois’s Maman (2005–2012), and Anish Kapoor’s Tall Tree and the Eye (2012–2023) established a “monumental axis”, organizing the site through an upward orientation that commanded the viewer’s gaze.
Gabriel Orozco Garden consciously shifts away from this vertical tradition. Rather than directing attention upward, the work brings the gaze down toward the ground and the horizontal plane, redefining the deck not as a space for displaying objects, but as an environment where visitors walk, linger, and experience time. Instead of sculpture as a discrete object, the garden operates as an integrated system in which landscape, architecture, and environment are interwoven. In this sense, it marks both Leeum’s first garden commission and an expansion toward a public space shared with the surrounding community.
Gabriel Orozco is widely recognized for his singular approach to contemporary art. Since gaining international attention in the early 1990s, he has worked across cities such as Mexico City, New York, Tokyo, and Paris, without being bound to a fixed studio or medium. His practice often involves minimal interventions into found objects and existing situations, revealing latent structures and unexpected relationships within them. Rather than being defined by a single medium, his work operates across sculpture, photography, drawing, and installation, guided less by material consistency than by recurring strategies—such as games, geometric systems, and the interplay of rule and chance. Through this approach, he reconfigures how we perceive ordinary situations and materials.
Gabriel Orozo, Sketch of the Gabriel Orozco Garden, 2025 ©Gabriel Orozco
Gabriel Orozco Garden at Leeum marks the third and most comprehensive chapter in the artist’s decade-long engagement with the garden as a sculptural medium. This trajectory began in 2016 at the South London Gallery, where Orozco transformed a neglected site into a permanent garden defined by intersecting geometries. From 2019, he led the master plan for Chapultepec Park in Mexico City – an 800-hectare urban project – culminating in a public sculpture on an urban scale. At Leeum, Orozco builds upon the accumulated insights of these preceding projects.
In this garden, Orozco introduces, for the first time in his practice, a conceptual layer drawn from East Asian tradition: the “Three Friends of Winter” (歲寒三友) – pine, bamboo, and plum. These three plants, which sustain the garden through the harshest season with restraint, form both the botanical framework and conceptual backbone of Gabriel Orozco Garden. Here, sustainability takes precedence over flourish, and endurance over spectacle.
The structure of the garden is based on the motif of circular arrangements that permeates Orozco’s practice. A geometric pattern originating from a single circle expands across the approximately 1,653m² deck, linking circles of varying sizes to form a continuous sequence of interconnected spaces from Plaza 1 through Plaza 10. Each plaza is defined by a distinct combination of paving, pattern, planting, and seating, giving rise to its own atmosphere.
The material palette is deeply rooted in the local context. Custom-cut Boryeong stone, quarried in Boryeong city, Chungcheongnam-do, was laid to form a circular pattern across the deck. The original jarrah wood from the previous deck was repurposed as exterior cladding for the building, extending the project’s material cycle through reuse.
The garden is planted with seventeen pine trees, eleven plum trees, and approximately 1,500 bamboo stalks. The bamboo grove buffers urban noise while forming a more intimate spatial environment within the garden.
Additional plantings—including viburnum, spiraea, parnassia ― establish a restrained palette of predominantly white blossoms. These selections evoke the aesthetic of Sehan (歲寒), a traditional concept representing the noble endurance and integrity maintained during the harshest of winters.
The building’s wood-clad exterior, the circular stone paving, and the surrounding landscape extending toward Namsan Mountain converge to create a singular impression: the deck appears as a garden floating above the city.
Gabriel Orozco Garden, 2026, View from the west ©Gabriel Orozco. Photo: Chung Heeseung
Extending this trajectory, Gabriel Orozco Garden expands sculpture from a physical object into a structure of experience. Here, sculpture is not something to be viewed, but an environment that unfolds through the act of moving through it. The deck’s long-standing tradition of vertical sculpture is thus reinterpreted as a horizontally unfolding garden. Visitors’ presence and movement become integral to the work itself, with experience emerging as a central value of sculpture.
Open to all during museum hours, the garden offers a space for free access and engagement. Situated within the flow of everyday life, it invites visitors to enter and spend time within it, presenting Leeum’s vision of a new form of public artistic experience.
M2, Lobby
2026.03.03. – 2026.06.28.
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Tino Sehgal (b. 1976, London) studied political economics and dance. He questions how art can exist without material objects, with his practice that produces neither physical objects nor documentation. Instead, his works—mediated through the body, language, and human encounter—take the form of what he calls “constructed situations,” realized through interaction between visitors and “interpreters” who sing, dance, or initiate conversation.
This exhibition presents eight “constructed situations,” including a new work, alongside sculptures from the museum collection, selected by the artist. Unfolding simultaneously at the museum entrance, garden, lobby, and M2, his works exist only in the present moment—never to be repeated.
Sehgal has staged the B1 floor with green beaded curtains by Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Within this space, three “constructed situations” rotate on a six-week cycle, maintaining a sense of discontinuous continuity. In a separate space populated by Auguste Rodin’s bronzes, Sehgal’s seminal work Kiss (2002) is brought to life by a couple, inferring iconic moments in art history. On the first floor, a solo choreographic work Instead of allowing some thing to rise up to your face dancing bruce and dan and other things (2000) unfolds, while figurative and abstract sculptures stand facing one another, as if on the verge of dialogue. Visitors become an integral part of these “constructed situations” as they make eye contact with sculptures, pass through the beaded curtains, and encounter the interpreters.
In an age of digitalization, Sehgal’s refusal of any documentation invites us to reconsider what art essentially is—and what it means to experience it without digital mediation. What remains is not an image or an object, but a memory: art composed through human connection and sensory perception alone.
* Photography and video recording are restricted in this exhibition.