Center Pompidou Hanwha to open in June with French-Korean curatorship

A view of Centre Pompidou Hanwha in Yeouido, Seoul (Courtesy of Hanwha Foundation of Culture)

Centre Pompidou Hanwha will open in June at the 63 Building annex in Yeouido, presenting works from the French museum’s collection alongside a curatorial framework that integrates Korean art history.

The museum's inaugural exhibition, “The Cubist: Inventing Modern Vision,” opens June 4, bringing together 20th- and 21st-century masterpieces collected by Centre Pompidou in Paris. Featured artists include Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall.

Centre Pompidou Hanwha's building in Yeouido is a full renovation of the former annex of the 63 Building, which previously housed an aquarium. The four-story building features two main exhibition galleries, each spanning approximately 1,600 square meters.

Stage Curtain for Soiree de Paris (Known as the "Mercure Curtain") by Pablo Picasso (Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris)

Exhibitions at the museum will be placed within Korea’s socio-cultural context, featuring original research, interpretation and education programs grounded in joint Korea-France curatorship, according to the Centre Pompidou Hanwha.

Under this direction, “The Cubist: Inventing Modern Vision” will include a special section titled “Korea Focus” that explores intersections between Western Cubism and Korean art. Featured works reveal how modern perspectives introduced with Cubism continued to influence Korea’s modern and contemporary art.

The Centre Pompidou in Paris closed in 2025 for a major renovation and is scheduled to reopen in 2030. The museum has expanded internationally through satellite branches and partnerships such as Centre Pompidou Malaga in Spain and Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum in Shanghai, which is run on a five-year renewable collaboration.

"The Viaduct at L'Estaque" by Georges Braque (Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris)

Throughout its first four-year renewable contract, The Centre Pompidou Hanwha will present two major exhibitions annually, drawing on the museum’s collection to highlight major currents of 20th-century modern art.

Though it is still too early to discuss whether the agreement will be extended, the Hanwha Foundation of Culture plans to maintain the renovated annex building as a museum, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“A museum cannot be summed up by the building that houses it, but is embodied by a spirit, a set of values and expertise that can be shared worldwide,” said Laurent Le Bon, President of Centre Pompidou.

“This international dimension is key to Centre Pompidou’s identity, and the inauguration of Centre Pompidou Hanwha is both a milestone in our history and an unprecedented opportunity for exchange with new publics and the prolific Korean cultural scene.”