Centre Pompidou Hanwha held its opening ceremony on May 19 at the base of the 63 Building on Yeouido Island in Seoul. The 108,000-square-foot museum opens to the public on June 4. It is the Centre Pompidou’s third international satellite, joining outposts in Shanghai and Málaga, Spain.
Designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the new museum occupies four floors at the foot of the 1985 tower in Seoul’s financial district that houses Hanwha Group’s headquarters. The conglomerate is funding the project through its Hanwha Cultural Foundation.
Wilmotte & Associés has called the design a “box of light.” The podium at the base of the tower features a double-glazed envelope courtesy of a backlit glass facade that runs nearly 500 feet along the Han River. Its curves draw from the profile of traditional Korean roof tiles. A sculpture garden is planned for the first floor.
The ceremony was attended by Laurent Le Bon, director of the Centre Pompidou; Philippe Bertoux, French ambassador to Korea; Kim Sung-hee, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art; and Kim Dong-won, president and chief global officer of Hanwha Life, who delivered remarks on behalf of Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-yeon. Kim Sung-hee noted that the opening coincides with the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France.
The inaugural exhibition will include Pablo Picasso’s The Curtain of the Mercure Ballet and Marie Laurencin’s Apollinaire and His Friends. The museum plans to host two exhibitions annually, mixing loans from the Paris collection with shows of contemporary Korean artists.
A Brussels satellite is the next Pompidou outpost in the pipeline. A larger building designed by Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh is anticipated to open in Saudi Arabia in 2028. An OMA-designed satellite in Jersey City was abandoned in 2024.
