On the same day, the survivors of the late Samsung Group President Lee Kun-hee announced that they would donate 23,000 pieces of Lee’s collection to the National Central Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art, Yonhap reported Thursday. The collection includes works by Western artists such as Monet and Picasso, as well as 14 Korean national treasures with a total valuation of 2 to 3 trillion won.
Like his father, Samsung Group founder Lee Bing-hee, Lee loves to collect ancient art, with the largest number of individual collections in South Korea. Including national treasures and treasures, Lee’s collection of 216,000 ancient art items will be donated to the National Central Museum, including the Mid-Korean Dynasty painter Zheng 敾’s “King Ren” (National Treasure No. 216), the late Korean dynasty The painting giant Jin Hongdao’s Autumn Sound Map (Treasure No. 1393), Gao Lifu’s painting “Thousand Hands Guanyin Yusatu” (Treasure No. 2015) and other 14 national treasures, 46 treasures.
It is worth mentioning that the “King Of Ren” 138.2 cm long and 79.2 cm wide, Zheng 敾 400 works of the largest one, the valuation of up to 30 billion to 100 billion won.
In addition, more than 1,600 modern works of art by Masters such as Kim Hwan-ki, Park Shou-gen, Lee Chung-hyun, Monet, Picasso and Chagall will be donated to the National Museum of Modern Art and other institutions, including Kim Hwan-ki’s “Women and Cylinders”, Park Shou-gen’s “The Woman Who Beats”, Li Zhongxuan’s “Yellow Cow” and Zhang Xuzhen’s “Girls” ferry.
Most of these works will be donated to the National Museum of Modern Art, and some will be collected by the Gwangju Municipal Art Museum, the Quannan Daoli Art Museum, Daegu Art Museum and other artists’ hometowns, as well as the Li Zhongxuan Art Museum, Park Shougen Art Museum and other individual art galleries of writers.
The rare masterpieces of Monet’s Water lily Pool, Dali’s Half-Man Horse Family, and Western masters such as Chagall, Picasso, Renoir, Gauge and Pizarro will be on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art, enough to rival the once-scarce gallery with world-class ones. Kim Hwan-ki’s 1971 work “The Universe” set a record for the highest auction price for a Korean art work, and the National Museum of Modern Art has previously collected 19 works by Kim Hwan-ki, none of which were at its peak. The same is true of modern Western art collections, where the National Gallery of Modern Art does not currently have Picasso and Monet’s works.
A national art gallery director said that given the level and value of Lee’s collection, the collections he donated would be representative works of the galleries. While budgeting is a problem, it’s hard to buy similar works on the market, even if you have the money.
In addition, major Western modern art works from Lee’s collection, such as Mark Roscoe, Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon, which are not in the donated catalogue, will be managed by the Samsung family and the Samsung Art Gallery Leeum.
