Lee Kun-hee collection showcases Korean art in London

“My family has believed for generations that art and culture should be preserved and shared.” Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong made the remarks at a gala dinner on Sept. 30 at the British Museum in London, held ahead of the opening of “Korea: A Journey of 2,000 Years of Creativity.” He said he hoped the exhibition would help visitors gain a deeper appreciation of Korea’s artistic achievements and cultural heritage over the past two millennia.

Lee traced his family’s commitment to collecting art to his late grandfather, Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, who began acquiring artworks out of a belief that cultural treasures should be preserved for future generations. His late father, former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, continued that legacy through decades of collecting and preserving art. Lee also credited his mother, Hong Ra-hee, honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, with broadening the collection to include works spanning ancient and modern periods.

Jointly organized by the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and the British Museum, the exhibition features 100 works from the Lee Kun-hee Collection, which his family donated to South Korea. The selection includes 27 works from 10 designated National Treasures and 23 works from 13 designated Treasures. The full collection comprises 11,023 items, totaling more than 23,000 individual works.

The British Museum, often mentioned alongside the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as one of the world’s leading museums, is presenting a major exhibition of Korean art for the first time since 1984, a gap of 42 years.

Held a day before the exhibition opened, the gala brought together about 240 British political and public figures, including Princess Anne, Treasury Secretary John Healey, AI Minister Kanishka Narayan and former Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden. Executives from Samsung’s global partners also attended, including ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet and Merck CEO Kai Beckmann.

The Korean delegation included Lee and Hong, Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin, Samsung C&T President Lee Seo-hyun, and Kim Jae-youl, an International Olympic Committee executive board member and president of the International Skating Union. Lee also invited Korean War veterans to the dinner.

George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum’s board of trustees, praised the Lee family’s contribution in his congratulatory remarks. He said the late Lee Kun-hee and his family’s commitment to preserving humanity’s shared cultural heritage helps deepen understanding of the past and offers guidance for the future.

The exhibition traces Korean art and culture from around 300 B.C. to the present, showcasing the country’s creative traditions across the centuries. Visitors can explore ancient metalwork and Buddhist art, Goryeo celadon, Joseon-era paintings and crafts, and modern and contemporary works.

The London exhibition also features several pieces that were not included in the collection’s previous U.S. tour. They include Bronze Age artifacts from Bisan-dong in Daegu, a group of bronze bells traditionally attributed to Deoksan, “Magpie and Tiger,” and Lee Jung-seob’s “Bound People.” Kim Sang-a, a British Museum curator, said the collection’s breadth sets it apart, bringing together works from many historical periods rather than focusing on a single era.

The Lee Kun-hee Collection’s international tour began in November last year at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, where the exhibition drew more than 80,000 visitors, the highest attendance for a special exhibition at the museum in a decade. It later traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it ran from March through July this year and attracted about 115,000 visitors.


Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com