RM’s Seoul art trail: Museum and gallery guide for ARMY visiting during BTS comeback
RM's years of museum pilgrimages offer fans cultural map of city he loves
For BTS fans who also love art, a trip to Seoul shouldn’t be just about watching BTS live on Saturday. Several members — particularly RM — have expressed a deep appreciation for art and visiting the galleries he has frequented can make the trip even more memorable.
BTS leader RM has spent years building one of Korea’s most talked about relationships with the art world. His passion for art grew not from formal study but from experiences during life on tour.
RM’s love of art has been quite public. He has visited museums and galleries and posted photos of his visits on social media. These posts have sparked a wave of gallery pilgrimages by fans, now known as the “Namjoon Tour” or “RM Tour,” in which ARMY members travel to the same galleries and recreate his photos.
The Korea Art Market 2025 report named RM one of the 20 most influential figures in the Korean art market, describing him as a “passionate art collector and cultural influencer.”
Last year, RM also announced that he will curate his first museum exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, titled “RM x SFMOMA,” scheduled to open in October 2026. “I draw musical inspiration from art,” he once said about the connection between art and music.
The Korea Times has compiled a list of five venues woven into his art journey.
BTS member RM’s collection “Horse” is on display at an exhibition featuring sculptor Kwon Jin-kyu at the Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul, March 24, 2022. Korea Times photo by Choi Joo-yeon
SeMA is one of the institutions most closely associated with RM’s public art persona. He visited the David Hockney solo exhibition here in 2019, which became one of the first high-profile “RM Tour” moments when fans flocked to recreate his photos.
He later loaned a work from his own collection — a white horse sculpture titled “Horse” by Kwon Jin-kyu — to SeMA for the artist’s centennial retrospective. The exhibition drew significantly higher visitor numbers than the museum’s typical shows.
SeMA now holds a permanent collection of more than 6,310 works spanning Korean and international contemporary art.
This screenshot from BTS member RM’s Instagram shows a photo of the National Museum of Korea’s “Room of Quiet Contemplation” in 2022. Korea Times file
The National Museum of Korea is where visitors can experience RM’s admiration for traditional Korean cultural heritage.
A must-see is the “Room of Quiet Contemplation,” where RM once spent time in 2022, making it a popular stop for fans since then. Two gilt-bronze "Pensive Bodhisattva" statues — designated national treasures — are displayed without glass cases, allowing visitors to view them up close from all sides.
A miniature statue of the "Pensive Bodhisattva” sold at the museum shop also became popular after RM posted a photo with it, triggering a surge in sales.
The museum houses nearly 420,000 artifacts spanning Korea’s prehistoric era to the modern age. In 2025, it ranked third among the world’s most visited museums with more than 6.5 million visitors — behind only the Louvre Museum and the Vatican Museums.
Leeum Museum of Art's lobby in Seoul / Courtesy of Leeum Museum of Art
The Leeum Museum of Art is one of RM’s favorite art destinations in Korea. He often posted photos from the museum on BTS’s official X account.
Fans also spotted him there in early 2024, while he was still serving his mandatory military service, attending the Philippe Parreno exhibition “VOICES.”
The museum houses important collections of Korean art — including 36 national treasures and 96 designated treasures — alongside modern and contemporary works by Korean and international artists such as Kim Whanki, Yun Hyong-keun, Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko.
BTS leader RM visits the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul in this post uploaded on July 26, 2021. Captured from BTS' official X account
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA)
RM’s ties to the MMCA are perhaps the most institutional.
On his 27th birthday, he donated 100 million won ($66,900) to the MMCA Foundation to support the production and distribution of publications on Korean artists for public schools and libraries.
He also recorded a bilingual audio guide in Korean and English for MMCA’s landmark overseas exhibition “The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2022.
The MMCA Seoul branch holds a permanent collection of more than 11,500 works. This week, the museum is also opening Damien Hirst’s first major solo exhibition in Asia.
BTS leader RM stands beside a painting by Yun Hyong-keun at PKM Gallery in Seoul in a posting uploaded Oct. 22, 2021. Captured from BTS' official X account
For fans who want to trace RM’s most personal art chapter, visiting PKM Gallery in Seoul’s Jongno District is essential.
The gallery represents the estate of monochrome painter Yun Hyong-keun, one of RM’s favorite artists. The musician even dedicated his 2022 solo album “Indigo” to him.
Visitors may not see Yun’s works during this trip, however, as his next major solo exhibition is scheduled for later this year. For now, the gallery is hosting a fine art and craft exhibition.