Seoul Turns into an Impressionist Season with Major Exhibitions
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
Seoul’s major museums have synchronized large Impressionism shows this winter, creating a rare citywide “Impressionist season.” Sejong Museum hosts a San Diego Museum centennial special, “From the Renaissance to Impressionism,” bringing 65 Western paintings (including 25 works never before moved overseas) to trace 600 years of Western painting. The Seoul Arts Center presents “Orangerie–Orsay: Cézanne, Renoir,” the first domestic showing of Orangerie works, juxtaposing 51 oil paintings and 70 photos/videos to compare Renoir’s warm color and human touch with Cézanne’s emphasis on form and structure. The National Museum of Korea’s “People Who Collected Light” features 81 works from the Robert Lehman Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in a research-focused show that examines the technical experiments leading from Impressionism to early Modernism. Experts say the concurrent exhibitions signal Seoul’s growing role as an Asian exhibition hub and offer rare, hard-to-recreate combinations of works. The article also notes an aesthetic detail: many 19th-century decorative wooden frames (액자) themselves contribute to the artworks’ historic feel. For visitors: Sejong for a broad art-historical sweep, Seoul Arts Center for direct comparison of Renoir and Cézanne, and National Museum for technical, research-driven insight. The season runs across different venues through early 2026.
