BTS' RM to feature personal art collection at SFMOMA

K-pop boy band BTS' leader RM will share about 140 works from his personal art collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in an exhibition opening Oct. 3.

“RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me,” which will run through Feb. 7, 2027, marks the first museum exhibition of RM’s personal collection and SFMOMA’s first collaboration with a K-pop artist.

The exhibition will bring together approximately 180 works selected by RM and the museum, including pieces from his collection and SFMOMA’s holdings. Most of the works collected by RM will be shown in the United States for the first time.

“This is the first time I am sharing my collection under my own name. I think few things reveal a person as honestly as a collection they have built over a long period. In that sense, this exhibition will be quite a long self-introduction,” RM said through his agency, BigHit Music.

“My collection includes many works by modern and contemporary Korean artists. Some of their names may still be unfamiliar outside Korea. I have collected with the hope of contributing a slightly better perspective and sensibility, and that process has led to this exhibition,” he added.

RM participated directly in planning and curating the exhibition, working with SFMOMA co-curators América Castillo and Kim Hyo-eun to select the works and develop the presentation.

He also wrote the Korean and English exhibition texts and artwork descriptions, recorded audio guides in both languages and selected the music played in the galleries.

SFMOMA proposed the project after taking an interest in RM’s artistic tastes and sustained engagement with contemporary art.

“This project closely aligns with SFMOMA’s commitment to expanding global conversations around art,” museum director Christopher Bedford said. “While creating space for new voices at the museum, we are also inviting audiences who have encountered contemporary art and Korean art through RM.”

Featured Korean artists include Yun Hyong-keun, Park Re-hyun, Chang Uc-chin, Kwon Ok-yon, Kim Yun-shin and To Sang-bong. Their works will appear alongside pieces from SFMOMA’s collection by Kim Whan-ki, Nam June-paik, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Henri Matisse and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Through ceramics, calligraphy, painting and sculpture, the exhibition will also trace Korean art from the sixth century to the present. SFMOMA described it as one of the most wide-ranging exhibitions of modern and contemporary Korean art presented in the U.S.