InterviewWith end of US gov't shutdown, Lee Kun-hee's Korean art collection debuts at Smithsonian

Installation view of "Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) reopened Saturday, unveiling a headline exhibition of millennia-spanning Korean antiquities and artworks once kept in the private vaults of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The show’s debut, delayed by a week, comes on the heels of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which had temporarily shuttered institutions reliant on federal funding.

“Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared” marks the first time these works have crossed the ocean since Lee’s family donated his massive 23,000-piece collection to Korea’s state-run museums in 2021 to help settle the inheritance tax payment, which was the largest such amount in the nation’s history.

The show brings together 330 objects, from the Buddhist statuary of the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.–668 A.D.) and gold-lettered scriptures of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) to the blue-and-white porcelains from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) court and brushworks by 20th-century modernist masters.

Shaped through close collaboration with the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art — two principal beneficiaries of Lee’s historic bequest — the landmark exhibition also features additional loans from Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art.

“This will be the largest Korean show we’ve ever done at our museum — and, for some time, the most important show of Korean art in the United States,” NMAA Director Chase F. Robinson told The Korea Times in an interview in May. “It’s meant to be comprehensive, so it introduces the chronological breadth, the range of media and the diversity of contexts [in which this art once lived]: scholarly, religious and royal.”

The exhibition features "chaekgado," a 19th-century painted still life of scholarly accoutrements symbolizing the material aspirations of a learned household. Courtesy of National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

The 330 objects on view are arranged thematically across 10 galleries: royal palaces, Buddhist temples, Confucian academies and scholars’ “sarangbang” studios.

Each gallery illuminates a different face of Korea, from ruling officials captured in stately portraits to aristocrats pursuing Confucian ideals through literati brushwork. One room turns to the elegant splendor of the Joseon court, while another immerses visitors in Buddhist art, exploring the religion’s deep roots in Korean spiritual life.

The exhibition is bookended by “chaekgado,” a 19th-century painted still life of scholarly accoutrements symbolizing the material aspirations of a learned household, paired with the museum’s 3D interpretation of the motif using Lee’s own objects. Together, they gesture toward the country’s long tradition of collecting and connoisseurship.

Such a layout, according to curators, is intended as an accessible threshold into a cultural legacy that stretches across a broad span of time, especially for American audiences who may know Korea primarily through its pop-culture exports.

The museum presents its 3D interpretation of "chaekgado," using real objects from the Lee Kun-hee collection. Courtesy of National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

“There is already a general popularity of Korean popular culture. But what we hope is to add a little more depth of knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Korean culture for the public,” said Carol Huh, associate curator of contemporary Asian art, speaking ahead of the show’s opening.

“By creating thematic galleries, we thought we could help visitors understand the original contexts where these objects were used, made and sponsored,” added Hwang Sun-woo, the NMAA’s inaugural curator of Korean art and culture.

Hwang noted that “Korean Treasures” also holds significance for the museum itself, as its nearly 800-piece Korean holdings lean heavily toward Goryeo-era celadon.

“This presents a rare opportunity for us to introduce a variety of Korean art at once. It is also the first occasion where we’re presenting traditional works of art alongside the modern and contemporary,” she noted, pointing to the exhibition’s cross-temporal juxtapositions — for instance, painter Park Dae-sung’s contemporary ink-wash rendering of Gyeongbok Palace placed in dialogue with Joseon court art.

Other highlights include 18th-century painter Jeong Seon’s “Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang,” a state-designated National Treasure, and a luminous Joseon-era moon jar paired with a painting by modernist abstractionist Kim Whanki.

Following its run at the Smithsonian through Feb. 1, 2026, “Korean Treasures” will travel to the Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum.

This coverage was supported by the Press Promotion Fund of the Korea Press Foundation.