National museum to livestream show featuring Lee Kun-hee’s art collection

The late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s art collection, now on display at the National Museum of Korea, will be the subject of a Naver TV livestream Thursday at 7 p.m.

The museum decided to stream its exhibition “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces From the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee” because the pandemic situation in Seoul has made it difficult for people to visit in person over the past month.

As soon as the exhibition opened July 21, the public showed a keen interest and slots for visitors filled up quickly. Lee died in October, and in April his family donated more than 23,000 works of art from his collection. Most went to the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

Of the 21,600 items that the Lee family donated, the livestream will show 77 during the two-month exhibition. These include paintings, wooden furniture, bibliographic materials and works of metalcraft, porcelain and calligraphy. Among them are 28 government-designated treasures or national treasures.

National Museum of Korea curator Lee Soo-kyung will narrate the livestream, and viewers can submit questions in real time and get answers from the museum’s curators. The livestreamed video will remain on the museum’s Naver TV channel, https://tv.naver.com/l/83857.

Those who wish to see the art collection in person are required to make reservations online through the museum’s official website, museum.go.kr. The exhibition runs through Sept. 26.

Another exhibition of works from Lee’s collection runs until March 13 at MMCA’s Seoul venue. Some 54 masterpieces of modern art by 34 artists are on display, out of 1,488 works donated to the museum.

By Park Yuna (yunapark@heraldcorp.com)