“Korea” exhibition officially opens to the public at the British Museum: Gala with 240 guests honours 2,000 years of Korean art

A gala hosted on the evening of 30 September by Samsung Electronics at the British Museum marked the official opening of the “Korea” exhibition, according to the company’s announcement on PR Newswire. The ceremony, attended by 240 guests, included the Princess Royal, Samsung executive chairman Jay Y. Lee together with members of the Lee family, as well as ministers and leading figures of British culture. The exhibition opens to the public on 1 October 2026 and will remain open until 31 January 2027, in the Joseph Hotung Great Court Gallery.

“Korea” spans more than two millennia of Korean art — from bronze objects dating to around 300 BC to contemporary works by Nam June Paik — with 100 masterpieces, among them 10 National Treasures and 13 Treasures of Korea, on loan from the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul. More than 20 works are being shown outside Korea for the first time.

The exhibition is based on the collection of former Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee, who in 2021 bequeathed to the Korean nation more than 23,000 works of art — one of the largest acts of donation in art history. The organisers are the British Museum, the National Museum of Korea and Seoul’s MMCA, and the international tour made its first European stop in London after presentations at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington (around 80,000 visitors) and the Art Institute of Chicago (around 115,000 visitors).

In his speech, Jay Y. Lee said that “for generations, my family has held the principle that art and culture must be preserved and shared”, expressing the hope that the exhibition will offer visitors a gateway to Korean culture. He also honoured three veterans of the Korean War present in the hall. The chairman of the British Museum, George Osborne, said the museum is delighted to host “this extraordinary exhibition”, while South Korea’s ambassador in London called it an “event at the right time, at a moment when K-culture is being recognised globally”.