Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger and Marie Laurencin.
Works by the early 20th-century masters who pioneered new horizons in art can now be seen in Seoul, without traveling to the Pompidou Center in Paris. Three years after the Hanwha Cultural Foundation signed a partnership agreement with the Pompidou Center in 2023 to establish an art museum in Korea, "Pompidou Center Hanwha" will officially open on June 4.
The Hanwha Cultural Foundation held a press conference Wednesday at Pompidou Center Hanwha, newly built next to the Hanwha 63 Building in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, designed by French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte. The foundation unveiled the museum's operational plans and inaugural exhibition to the media.
The opening exhibition, "Cubists: Visionaries of Sight," explores how Cubism, originated by Picasso and Braque, brought about a revolution in visual arts in the early 20th century, through 91 works by 43 representative artists. All works on display are from the Pompidou Center's collection. The Pompidou Center, which opened in 1977 as France's national modern art museum, has been closed since last fall as it embarked on a five-year, large-scale renovation project running through 2030.
The standout artist of the exhibition is undoubtedly Picasso. He dismantled the tradition of the "single viewpoint" that had dominated Western art history for some 500 years since the Renaissance, creating a new visual language that depicts a single subject as seen from multiple perspectives. Picasso was influenced by Paul Cézanne and inspired by African artifacts he had seen at museums. "Bust of a Woman" (1907), shown at the start of the exhibition, clearly reveals these characteristics. Braque, also influenced by Cézanne, broke down objects into geometric structures. When critic Louis Vauxcelles saw this in 1908 and used the word "cube," Cubism was officially born. The exhibition features 12 works by Picasso and nine by Braque. Comparing Picasso's "Guitarist" (1910) and Braque's "Woman with a Guitar" (1913), which address the same subject, is one of the show's intriguing highlights. Other notable works include Robert Delaunay's "The City of Paris," which fragments the classical theme of the Three Graces as if in a mosaic, and Fernand Léger's "The Wedding," which shatters the figures of a young bride and groom. The largest work on view is Picasso's "Stage Curtain for the Ballet Mercure," measuring 392 centimeters wide, which the artist was commissioned to create for a performance at La Cigale theater near Montmartre.
Alongside the main exhibition, a special section titled "Korea Focus: A Map of Dreams Toward Modern Avant-Garde" shows how Western art after Cubism influenced Korean modern art in the first half of the 20th century. Visitors can see works by Kim Whan-ki as well as early absolute abstract works by Yoo Young-kuk. Notable pieces include those by Park Re-hyun, who realized the influence of Cubism through Eastern materials such as hanji (Korean paper) and ink, and Lee Soo-eok, who employed Cubism to express the realities of war.
Laurent Le Bon, director of the Pompidou Center, who attended the event, said, "This year marks the 140th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations, next year is the 50th anniversary of the Pompidou Center's opening, and the Hanwha Cultural Foundation is approaching its 20th anniversary. I am delighted that Pompidou Center Hanwha is opening at this moment." He added, "Cubism is the most important art movement because it presented a revolution in vision in the early 20th century, and this exhibition is by far the best Cubism show organized in Asia over the past 50 years."
Lee Sung-soo, chairman of the Hanwha Cultural Foundation, said of the operational plans, "Pompidou Center Hanwha will be a popular cultural space that introduces the Pompidou Center's outstanding collection to Korea, while also serving as a hub for promoting Korean art globally by leveraging the Pompidou Center's international network." According to the Hanwha Cultural Foundation's audit report, the foundation pays the Paris Pompidou Center approximately 7.6 billion won annually in brand royalty fees alone for operating the museum (as of 2024).
Going forward, Pompidou Center Hanwha plans to hold exhibitions featuring modern and contemporary art masters such as Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky and Constantin Brâncuși, as well as shows on Surrealism and women's abstract art.
