Leeum's enduring charm to foreign VIPs

On a shiny Monday morning, the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art nestled on the slope of Mt. Namsan in a quiet Hannam neighborhood in Seoul was flanked by a line of sleek black limousines and security guards in black suits escorting the first ladies of South Korea and Japan, Kim Keon Hee and Yuko Kishida, respectively.

Their visit underscores the enduring pull of Samsung’s palatial private art museum as a hot art destination since its opening in 2004, visited by a slew of foreign tycoons, celebrities and many other high-profile political figures, including Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of the world’s biggest luxury products group LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, during his three-day visit in March and first spouses of leaders attending the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010.

There have been also many unofficial visits by other high-profile people to Leeum during state visits, said a Leeum official.

The private art museum has become a magnet for VIPs visiting Seoul because of its wealth of Korean traditional art collections that cannot be found anywhere at home or abroad, said Jung Joon-mo, a Korean art critic.

UNPARALLELED TRADITIONAL KOREAN ART

“Its pieces are collected by Samsung, a household name representing Korea in the world,” said Jung. “Leeum is the only museum (in Korea) that can exhibit Korean artwork spanning the length of Korean history year-round.”

Its traditional Korean artworks have been amassed by the late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, his son and late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and the late chair’s wife Hong Ra-hee for decades.

Especially the late chairman’s collection encompasses Korea’s national treasures and masterpieces of Korean classic art.

Its permanent traditional art collection display exhibits 160 artworks with Korea’s cultural heritage including ceramics, painting calligraphy, metal crafts, wooden furniture and folk art, which inarguably stand out from the rest, even those at the National Museum of Korea and other state-run museums in the country, according to art critics.

This has made Leeum “the” must-see museum for visitors in Korea.

INCOMPARABLE CURATING COMPETENCY & MUSEUM ARCHITECTURE

Leeum also is a place where people can witness Korea’s latest cultural trends and its power.

The Samsung art museum is currently showing "WE," a solo exhibition by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, one of the most controversial artists working now and famous for his conceptual art sculpture, "Comedian," which features a fresh banana affixed to the wall with duct tape.

Demand for tickets to the exhibition, which will last until mid-July, is so high that people line up in front of the museum before its opening every morning.

“Joseon White Porcelain” is another special Leeum exhibition, with people racing to get tickets in the morning before they sell out, even during weekdays.

Chairman Arnault toured both exhibitions, said a Leeum official.

The quality and pull of the two exhibitions are good examples that Leeum’s top-notch collections and curation capability are on par with renowned global art museums, said art critics.

Its vast network with art museums and galleries across the world also add weight to its exhibitions.

It borrowed some pieces from six galleries including the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka for its first-ever ceramics-devoted exhibition, “Joseon White Porcelain.”

To some visitors to Leeum, paintings or ceramics may not be the only reason to visit as the museum’s architecture itself is a draw.

Boasting a total floor area of 28,300 square meters, the Leeum Museum of Art is composed of three buildings -- MUSEUM 1, MUSEUM 2 and Child Education & Culture Center -- respectively designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, French architect Jean Nouvel and Rem Koolhaas from the Netherlands.

It is extremely rare to have the work of these three internationally acclaimed architects in one place.

Located near Mt. Namsan and flanked by the Han River, its architecture is well-blended with the surrounding nature.

The Leeum Museum of Art was opened in 2004 by Samsung Museum of Art and nurtured by the Samsung Foundation of Culture, founded by late Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull in 1965, to promote and support Korean culture and art on a wide scale.

Write to Sun A Lee and Soo-Young Seong at suna@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.