The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art reopened on Saturday with a groundbreaking exhibition featuring Korean antiquities and artworks that once belonged to the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The exhibition's debut was delayed by one week due to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which temporarily closed federally funded institutions across the country.
"Korean Treasures: Collected, Cherished, Shared" represents the first time these precious works have traveled overseas since Lee's family donated his massive 23,000-piece collection to South Korea's state-run museums in 2021. The donation was made to help settle what became the largest inheritance tax payment in the nation's history.
The comprehensive exhibition showcases 330 objects spanning thousands of years of Korean artistic heritage. The collection includes Buddhist statuary from the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-668 A.D.), gold-lettered scriptures from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), blue-and-white porcelains from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) court, and brushworks by 20th-century modernist masters.
The landmark exhibition was developed through close collaboration with the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, both of which were principal beneficiaries of Lee's historic bequest. Additional works have been loaned from Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art to enhance the show's scope and depth.
"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 a May interview. "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 330 objects are thoughtfully arranged across 10 galleries according to their original contexts: royal palaces, Buddhist temples, Confucian academies, and scholars' sarangbang studios. Each gallery reveals different aspects of Korean culture, from stately portraits of ruling officials to aristocrats pursuing Confucian ideals through literati brushwork. One room celebrates 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 opens and closes with chaekgado, a 19th-century painted still life depicting scholarly items that symbolized the material aspirations of learned households. The museum has created its own 3D interpretation of this traditional motif using actual objects from Lee's collection. Together, these displays highlight Korea's long-standing tradition of collecting and connoisseurship.
Curators designed this thematic layout to provide an accessible introduction to Korean cultural heritage, particularly for American audiences who may primarily know Korea through its contemporary pop culture exports. "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.
Hwang Sun-woo, the NMAA's inaugural curator of Korean art and culture, explained the exhibition's educational approach: "By creating thematic galleries, we thought we could help visitors understand the original contexts where these objects were used, made and sponsored." She noted that the exhibition holds special significance for the museum, as its nearly 800-piece Korean collection has traditionally focused heavily on Goryeo-era celadon pieces.
"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," Hwang observed. The exhibition features innovative cross-temporal juxtapositions, such as painter Park Dae-sung's contemporary ink-wash rendering of Gyeongbok Palace displayed alongside traditional Joseon court art.
Among the exhibition's standout pieces are several nationally significant treasures. These include 18th-century painter Jeong Seon's "Clearing After Rain on Mount Inwang," which holds the prestigious designation of National Treasure in South Korea. Another highlight features a luminous Joseon-era moon jar presented in dialogue with a painting by modernist abstractionist Kim Whanki, demonstrating the continuity of Korean aesthetic sensibilities across centuries.
After its run at the Smithsonian concludes on February 1, 2026, "Korean Treasures" will continue its international tour with stops at the Art Institute of Chicago and the British Museum, bringing this remarkable collection to audiences across the globe.
