Attributed to court painters 화원 추정. Ten Symbols of Longevity 십장생도, Joseon dynasty, 19th century. National Museum of Korea, LKH4053.
Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art
March 7 – July 5, 2026
Member Preview: March 6, 10am-5pm
Member Lecture: March 6, 2-3pm (registration required)
Galleries 182-184
We are pleased to announce Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art. On view March 7 through July 5, 2026, this will be the largest Art Institute exhibition devoted to Korean art in four decades. The expansive exhibition will showcase 140 works—including modern and historical painting, ceramics, and objects made for Buddhist worship and scholarly study—22 of which are officially recognized as National Treasures or Treasures by the Korean government.
The objects in the exhibition are recognized as remarkable examples of their type and distinguished for their exceptional historic, artistic, and academic value. From a 6th-century gilt bronze Buddhist sculpture to Joseon dynasty paintings to contemporary paintings of the late 20th century, the works of art in this exhibition demonstrate the artistic legacy produced on the Korean peninsula over millennia.
Once privately held, these artworks now belong to the Korean people thanks to a single groundbreaking gift from the family of Lee Kun-Hee, late chairman of Samsung Group. In 2021 the family donated over 23,000 works to the Korean government for public audiences to study and appreciate in perpetuity. Lee Kun-Hee and his father, Lee Byung-Chull, collected exceptional and storied objects from throughout Korean history as a means of preserving and celebrating the nation’s cultural heritage.
“The Lee Kun-Hee Collection is not biased toward a specific period or genre, but evenly encompasses the essence of Korean art history from the Three Kingdoms period to the modern era,” said Yeonsoo Chee, Korea Foundation associate curator of Korean art at the Art Institute of Chicago. “By encountering the depth and diversity of Korean art across millennia, visitors will experience the accumulated cultural richness and artistic creativity that have evolved into the dynamism of Korean art and culture today,” she said.
The exhibition charts the ideas, values, and traditions that have shaped the country’s creative production, from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–676 CE) through the 1900s, offering insights into these objects’ rich meanings across centuries.
Korean National Treasures: 2,000 Years of Art is curated by Yeonsoo Chee, Korea Foundation Associate Curator of Korean art at the Art Institute of Chicago.
This exhibition, drawn from the National Bequest of Lee Kun-Hee’s Collection, is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, the National Museum of Korea, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.
To learn more about the exhibition, click here.
NEW COLLECTION ROTATION
Hamanishi Katsunori (Japanese, born 1949), Spring – Canola Flowers Field, 2022, color mezzotint on wove paper; Ed. 2/50; One of a series of four prints: 69 × 135 cm (27 3/16 × 53 3/16 in.). Gift of Hamanishi Katsunori. © 2022 Hamanishi Katsunori
Emerging from Darkness: Prints by Hamanishi Katsunori
April 8 – June 22, 2026
Gallery 107
Over a long and distinguished career, Japanese artist Hamanishi Katsunori (born 1949) has focused on making mezzotint prints, perhaps the most demanding of all print techniques.
Mezzotints are known for their dark and atmospheric appearance. This is because the starting point for any mezzotint is the creation of a roughened surface, which produces a solid black background when printed. To draw the image that emerges from this dark background, the artist uses a series of burnishers and scrapers; the deepest gouges print as white areas on the finished print.
This presentation includes earlier, smaller-format works done without color, as well as more recent larger work that boast many hues. Among the earlier monochromatic prints is Hamanishi’s 1997 Viva Chicago series, which focuses on the city’s beloved public monuments like the Picasso and Miró sculptures. As the artist recalled, “When I first came here, I was unprepared for the impact this city would leave on my mind, such a vivid impression etched deep in my memory… . This is my ode to Chicago.”
The exhibition also celebrates several important gifts to the museum. Hamanishi’s 2022 Four Seasons series—shown here for the first time—is a recent gift from the artist. Each work in the series is reminiscent of the panels of a folding screen and features seasonal floral imagery.
Many works in the show come from the 2013 gift to the museum from the Ninion and Sheldon Landy Collection, which gave the Art Institute the largest collection of Hamanishi’s prints in the world.
To learn more, click here.
Jitish Kallat: Public Notice 3
September 9, 2024 – September 14, 2026
Jitish Kallat’s site-specific installation, Public Notice 3, returns to the Art Institute of Chicago’s Grand Staircase this fall after a 14-year hiatus.
Initially unveiled on September 11, 2010, the work connects two significant historical events separated by 108 years: the First World Parliament of Religions which began on September 11, 1893, and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. At the earlier event, the World Parliament of Religions, held in what is now the museum’s Fullerton Hall, a young Hindu monk, Swami Vivekananda electrified audiences with a powerful speech calling for an end to religious fundamentalism, intolerance, and bigotry.
This very speech forms the basis of Kallat’s work, as the staircase risers are illuminated by Vivekananda’s words in five alternating colors—red, orange, yellow, blue, and green. These colors, borrowed from the decade-long advisory system of the US Department of Homeland Security following the attacks of 9/11, formed a spectrum denoting terrorism threat levels—from red for severe to green for low. Kallat transforms this motif of public vigilance into a radiant signal, reflecting Swami Vivekananda’s timeless and urgent plea for tolerance and universal acceptance.
To learn more, click here.
Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost
June 7, 2025 – November 15, 2026
Gallery 141–142
Epic and intricate, monumental and meticulous—the paintings of Kashmir-raised, London-based artist Raqib Shaw offer fantastical meditations on identity, transformation, and the redemptive power of beauty.
Shaw debuts his more-than 100-feet-wide, 21-panel Paradise Lost (2009–25), the artist’s most ambitious and personal project to date. This magnificent allegorical painting takes viewers on a spellbinding journey, from the nocturnal solitude of the artist’s childhood in Kashmir to the frenzied daylight of the art world and the West to finally a fragile, renewed dawn. Each panel is dense with symbolism: mythical beasts, anthropomorphic hybrids, collapsing kingdoms, and natural beauty in various states of transformation. Throughout, the work is dotted with images of the artist, sometimes as a humanoid creature with different animal heads, at another time as a monkey looking with awe at the gleaming edifices and the wealth of the West, and sometimes unambiguously in full human form seated on a bed of saffron under a blossoming cherry tree, lost deep in his thoughts.
The work is not a direct retelling of Milton’s 17th-century poem Paradise Lost, but rather a reflection on the many paradises lost across a lifetime: childhood innocence, creative freedom, mental tranquility, cultural belonging. “This is not just my story,” Shaw explained. “It is the story of each of us, and the story of our times.”
To learn more, click here.
GALLERY COLLECTION DISPLAY
Plum Vase (Maebyeong) with Clouds, Cranes, and Children Motifs, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), late 12th century, stoneware with red and white slip and celadon glaze, h: 13 1/8 in. (33.5 cm); Gift of Mr. Russell Tyson
New Gallery for the Arts of Korea
Ongoing
Gallery 130
This fall, we unveiled a newly imagined and installed gallery for the arts of Korea—our first space fully dedicated to this cultural region.
The new installation presents a wider range of objects than previous displays—extending from ceramics to textiles and painting and spanning 2,000 years from the Three Kingdoms period (about 57 BCE–676 CE) until today. Intentionally located between the Chinese and Japanese art galleries, the thoughtful display offers insight into how these artworks both reflect the religious and material culture of Korea and how they relate to the arts of Korea’s influential neighbors, China and Japan.
Six themes introduce Korea’s long and rich history as well as its religious, political, and material cultures. The first section introduces objects that were made to help understand and spread the teachings of the Buddha. The centerpiece, an 18th-century Buddha statue, is on view for the first time since its acquisition after extensive conservation treatment. A section devoted to celadon and tea culture provides a glimpse into the practice of tea ceremonies during the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), and objects grouped around the idea of symbolism illustrate how beautiful embellishments represent desired outcomes, such as a blissful marriage, career advancement, and long life.
The remaining three sections focus on how material culture responded to a major ideological, political, and cultural shift during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) as evidenced in the creation of the earthy grey stoneware known as buncheong, elegant white porcelain, and scholars’ objects. The new installation also includes select contemporary works that meaningfully engage with traditional forms and materials.
To mark the gallery’s opening, the space presents two stunning gold objects—a crown and pendant as well as a belt from the Silla kingdom period (about 57 BCE–676 CE). These objects have been designated as Treasures by the Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea and are on loan from the National Museum of Korea through early February 2025. Further enhancing the visitor experience are an interactive feature and video that offer deeper insight into two objects’ symbolism and function.
To learn more, click here.
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