[Gallery Walk] As Paris Closes, the Eyes of the Pompidou Open in Seoul

Pompidou Center Hanwha Opens with “Cubist” Inaugural Exhibition
From Picasso and Braque to Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk: 112 Works on Display
Highlighting the Intersection of Western Modernism and Korean Modern Art

Next to the 63 Building in Yeouido, the white exhibition hall stood in stark contrast to the Pompidou Center in Paris, with its colorful pipes and the bustle of the plaza nowhere to be seen. Under a black ceiling, white walls curved elegantly, and paintings were hung at slightly different angles across a gray floor. The initial impression was closer to a sense of visual discomfort than the grandeur of masterpieces. The faces of Picasso and Braque did not immediately reveal themselves; Léger’s figures appeared more mechanical than human. Rather than simply displaying works, the exhibition subtly disrupted the viewer’s habitual way of seeing.

Innovators from the Cubist Perspective_View of Exhibition Room 1. Pompidou Center Hanwha_

On May 19, Pompidou Center Hanwha held a press preview in Yeouido, Seoul, unveiling its inaugural exhibition, “Cubist: Innovators of Vision.” The general public will be able to visit starting June 4. Centered on works from the collection of the Pompidou Center in Paris, the exhibition traces the evolution of Cubism from around 1907 through the 1920s.

There are 91 works by 43 artists from the Pompidou collection, including Picasso, Braque, Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, and Robert Delaunay. Alongside these, 21 works by 11 Korean modern and contemporary artists—including Kim Whanki, Yoo Youngkuk, Park Rae-hyun, Lee Soo-uck, and Ham Dae-jung—are also on display. In total, the exhibition features 112 works by 54 artists.

Although Cubism is a familiar name, its paintings are not easy to interpret. Rather than depicting objects as they appear, Cubists reassembled views from multiple perspectives onto a single canvas. Perspective was no longer a universal rule for organizing the world. Faces were fragmented into planes, musical instruments reduced to a few lines, and landscapes transformed into geometric structures. What Cubism shattered was not merely form, but the belief that the world could be seen through a single eye.

On this day, Laurent Le Bon, President of the Pompidou Center in Paris, referred to Seoul as a “star.” He remarked, “Some say the Pompidou Center era is over, but that is not true. We are more active and alive than ever before.” He went on to mention the “Constellation” project, which connects Pompidou’s international outposts, and said, “The opening of Pompidou Center Hanwha in Seoul will shine as one of the constellation’s most beautiful stars.”

Perspective of Cubists_Innovators_View of Exhibition Room 1. Pompidou Center Hanwha

His words carried more weight than a ceremonial greeting. The Pompidou Center in Paris is currently undergoing renovation, with its main building temporarily closed, and its collection is traveling to various regions around the world. The Center explained that the works sent to each location are not simply chosen from a list of “loanable pieces.” Instead, selection criteria include the cultural context of the exhibition venue, its thematic connections, the relationships between the works shown together, and the significance these works may hold for local audiences.

Therefore, the arrival of Cubism in Seoul is not just the movement of a Parisian collection—it is the movement of questions. If Cubism was an art that questioned a single viewpoint and a singular center, then Pompidou Center Hanwha in Seoul also challenges the era when museums were defined solely by the Parisian center. Is Seoul a mere recipient of Pompidou’s legacy, or does it represent a new coordinate on the map?

Of course, choosing Cubism for the inaugural exhibition is a safe bet. The names Picasso, Braque, and Léger are powerful draws for audiences, but such strong names can risk making the exhibition feel like a textbook lesson. In practice, the exhibition is organized into nine sections, presenting the birth and spread of Cubism and its postwar transformations in chronological order. According to the Pompidou Center, this structure is intentional. Since many of the featured works are being shown in Korea for the first time, the aim is to help viewers understand the story of Cubism within its art historical context.

'Cubist: Innovators of Vision' Preview Tour. Pompidou Center Hanwha

This approach is both a strength and a limitation. Visitors will not lose their way, but the initial shock of Cubism—the sensation of a worldview being dismantled—becomes somewhat subdued. As a result, the exhibition’s power lies less in explanation and more in the gaps between the works. Pausing before Picasso’s analytical canvases, passing through Delaunay’s colors, and confronting Léger’s mechanical figures, viewers are prompted not so much to study Cubism as to see with a slightly different perspective.

The most significant scene unfolds in Exhibition Room 2’s mezzanine with the section “KOREA FOCUS: Dream Map Toward Modern Avant-Garde.” Here, through the works of Kim Whanki, Yoo Youngkuk, Park Rae-hyun, and others, the exhibition explores how the Cubist visual language was received and transformed in Korean modern and contemporary art. The crucial issue is the direction of “influence.” If we read this as Cubism starting in Paris and simply arriving in Korea, then Korean art is once again relegated to a footnote of Western modernism. However, the Korean artists featured here do not appear as mere followers. Amid colonial modernity, liberation, and the postwar chaos, their choices reveal the pursuit of new forms and expressions.

Placing Kim Whanki’s work beside Picasso’s is easy. The challenge is to prevent such juxtapositions from reinforcing the tired dichotomy of “Western original and Korean response.” This is the very task that Pompidou Center Hanwha must address in Seoul. The Pompidou name is already prominent enough; the key question is whether that name will diminish Korean art, or enable it to be reinterpreted within a new context.

Innovators from the Cubist Perspective_View of Exhibition Room 2. Pompidou Center Hanwha_

An inaugural exhibition is like the first sentence of a museum. The first sentence cannot say everything, but it does reveal what is concealed and what is revealed. Pompidou Center Hanwha has opened its doors with the most familiar names in Western modernism. Yet the questions raised by Cubism remain relevant: Can the world be seen through a single eye? Can a museum speak only from a single center? How long will Korean art remain in the shadow of Paris?

What lingers in the exhibition hall is not just the name of Picasso. It is the subtly shifting gazes along the curved wall, the time lag between French speeches and Korean interpretation, and the images sliced once again by smartphone screens. Cubism broke the conventions of seeing a century ago. What Pompidou Center Hanwha in Seoul must now prove is what comes next: How will these fragmented perspectives be reassembled within this city? The exhibition runs through October 4.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.