A new museum for modern and contemporary art is opening in Seoul. It sits on the Han River in the Yeouido financial district. The museum will bring French cubism to the South Korean public.
Centre Pompidou Hanwha Opens
The Centre Pompidou Hanwha is a large exhibition museum. It covers 108,000 square feet across four floors. It's located inside the Hanwha Group headquarters. The Hanwha Group is a Korean company. Its cultural foundation is funding the museum. This is a partnership with Centre Pompidou, a famous cultural center in Paris.
French architects designed the Seoul museum. They call it a "box of light." They were inspired by traditional Korean roof tiles. This led to a curved glass design for the building.
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Start Your News DetoxThe first show is "The Cubists: Inventing Modern Vision." It runs from June through early October. It features artworks from the Centre Pompidou Paris collection. The Paris museum closed in 2025 for a five-year renovation.
Laurent Le Bon, president of Centre Pompidou Paris, spoke at a press conference. He said, "What I would like to say to those familiar with the Pompidou Center in Paris is this: some may think we have closed, but we are very much alive," as reported by Park Yuna of the Korea Herald.
Caption: Apollinaire and His Friends (second version), Marie Laurencin, 1909 Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI /Audrey Laurans / Dist. GrandPalaisRmn
"The Cubists" was planned by both French and Korean curators. It tells the story of cubism's development in the early 20th century. It focuses on artists in France from 1907 to 1927. Famous works include Pablo Picasso’s Bust of a Woman (1907) and Georges Braque’s The Viaduct at L’Estaque (1908). Robert Delaunay’s The City of Paris (1910-1912) is also on display.
Christian Briend, the lead curator, explained cubism's impact. He told Lim Jeong-won of Korea JoongAng Daily that cubists challenged traditional perspective. They showed forms as they are thought of, not just seen. "That is the great insight of Cubism," he noted.
A part of the exhibition, "Korea Focus: Dream Maps Towards the Modern Avant-Garde," shows cubism's influence on Korean artists. It features nearly two dozen works by 11 Korean artists. These include The Korean War (1954) by Lee Soo-auck and Self-portrait (1957) by Ha In-doo. Open Stalls (1956) by Park Re-hyun is also included.
Cho Ju-hyun, a senior curator, told Lee Hae-rin of the Korea Times that Paris was important for Korean artists. "In ‘Korea Focus,’ we trace how the modern visual language that emerged after Cubism was reimagined through Korean realities and sensibilities," she said.
Caption: Bust of a Woman, Pablo Picasso, 1907 Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI / Philippe Migeat / Dist. GrandPalaisRmn
Future exhibitions will follow a similar pattern. They will pair works from the Centre Pompidou with Korean art. This approach aims for a "reciprocal exchange." A spokesperson from the Hanwha Foundation of Culture told Lisa Movius and Jaeyong Park of the Art Newspaper that it will create new interpretations within global art.
A Global Network of Art
The museum's opening celebrates 140 years of diplomatic ties between France and Korea. French President Emmanuel Macron visited the new museum in April.
The Seoul museum is the newest international location for Centre Pompidou. It joins other sites in Belgium, Spain, Brazil, and China. This network helps the institution share art globally while its Paris home is closed for renovation.
Another Centre Pompidou museum might open in South Korea. The city of Busan signed an agreement to build a museum by 2031. However, this project has faced protests due to environmental concerns and its $78 million cost, according to Art Newspaper.
