Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul to open in 2025

The Centre Pompidou in Paris (Hanwha)

The Hanwha Foundation of Culture and the Centre Pompidou in France have officially finalized a deal to establish and operate a Pompidou branch in Seoul, the cultural arm of Hanwha Group said Friday.

The announcement follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a partnership by the two parties in France on March 19.

The parties have been discussing the outlines of the basic framework for the establishment and operation of the art center at 63 Square -- more commonly known as 63 Building -- a skyscraper in Yeouido, Seoul, owned by Hanwha Group.

The Hanwha Foundation of Culture was given the licensing rights to use the French museum’s properties for four years upon the opening of the branch, which is scheduled for October 2025.

The Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul will hold special exhibitions twice a year featuring works by 20th and 21st century contemporary artists from the Pompidou collections.

The Centre Pompidou houses over 120,000 artworks spanning from the early 1900s to the present, including Chagall, Matisse, Kandinsky and Picasso.

It has several satellite museums around the world, including one in Shanghai, China, which opened in 2019. The satellite museum in Brussels opened in 2018 following the opening of the Malaga branch in Spain in 2015.

This rendered image shows the interior design of the Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul, to be built at 63 Square in Yeouido, Seoul. (Hanwha)

During President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official visit to France on June 20, President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the project saying, "I would be remiss not to mention the increasingly close ties between our cultural and academic institutions, such as the partnership between Hanwha Foundation of Culture and the Centre Pompidou."

“Since the Centre Pompidou Hanwha Seoul is attracting a lot of attention as a symbolic project of cultural cooperation between the two countries, we will try to make it a successful example for everyone," said Shin Hyun-woo, chairman of the Hanwha Foundation of Culture, in a press release announcing the finalization of the museum plan.

“We will present high-quality world masterpieces and contemporary artworks in Korea, while also contemplating our role as a global art platform that helps domestic artists grow.”

By Hwang Dong-hee(hwangdh@heraldcorp.com)