Installations and photos of artist Yoo Young-kuk at the Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul where his retrospective exhibition takes place. Newsis
The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) has opened its largest-ever retrospective of pioneering Korean abstract painter Yoo Young-kuk, marking the 110th anniversary of the artist’s birth with an exhibition that traces his lifelong exploration of color, form and inner landscape.
Tittled “Yoo Youngkuk: A Mountain Within Me,” the exhibition will run through Oct. 25 at SeMA’s Seosomun branch, bringing together 178 works, including 115 oil paintings, alongside drawings, photographs and archival materials.
Notably, several previously unseen pieces and BTS RM’s collection “Mountain” are on display.
Widely regarded as a forerunner of Korean abstract art, Yoo (1916-2002) developed a distinctive visual language inspired by mountains and sea of his hometown Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province. His paintings are characterized by geometric compositions and bold primary colors that move beyond representation toward an expression of rhythm and inner structure.
Rather than following a chronological format, the exhibition adopts an unconventional structure that begins in 1964 — a pivotal year when Yoo, at age 49, held his first solo exhibition — then moves backward and forward through time. The exhibition also inaugurates SeMA’s new “Korean Modern Masters” series.
“Even in 1964, when materials were scarce and economic development had yet to fully take off, it was rare for an artist to present such large-scale canvases with this level of intensity,” SeMA curator Yeo Kyung-hwan said during a press preview, Monday. “The energy and vitality of those works shocked the art world at the time and earned him the description of a ‘relentless explorer of color.’”
Yoo Young-kuk’s oil paintings on display at SeMA’s retrospective exhibition / Newsis
Yoo’s solo exhibition in 1964 marked a turning point for the artist, who had been active in avant-garde groups such as the New Realism Group and the Modern Art Association. From that moment, he withdrew from collective activities and devoted himself solely to individual practice, staging solo exhibitions every two years while maintaining a disciplined daily routine centered on his studio in solitude.
“Although Yoo was a highly respected artist — he became the first living artist to hold a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in 1979 — he lived a largely secluded life,” Yeo said. “That is why he is less publicly celebrated than some of his contemporaries like Kim Whanki and Lee Jung-seob, despite the consistency and integrity of his artistic path.”
At the heart of the exhibition lies Yoo’s recurring motif of the mountain. Yet his mountain-inspired pieces are not literal landscape but distilled images of nature’s essence and the artist’s inner rhythm. Repeated triangular forms and striking contrasts of red, blue, green and purple create a visual tension.
“The mountain is not something before me, it is within me,” the artist’s 1977 quote greets the visitors at the exhibition.
Yoo Young-kuk’s mountain painting series on display at SeMA’s retrospective / Newsis
In his later years, particularly after turning 60, Yoo’s work shifted toward a more lyrical abstraction, where the sharp geometric tension of earlier paintings softened into a contemplative harmony. SeMA interprets this phase as “abstract imagery,” in which the self and nature arrive at deep harmony.
Yoo’s life mirrored the turbulence of modern Korean history. After studying abstraction in Tokyo during the Japanese colonial period, he endured years of hardship after liberation and the Korean War (1950-53), supporting his family through various means before returning to painting. Over his time, he produced some 800 oil paintings.
Yoo Jin, the artist’s eldest son and chair of the Yoo Young-kuk Art Foundation, reflected on the exhibition’s title during the press preview.
“The ‘mountain within me’ is not a visible mountain but one projected in the mind,” he said. “It suggests that truth is not outside but within, and must be found through introspection. That was Yoo Young-kuk’s way of surviving as an artist.”
Yoo Young-kuk’s paintings, including some previously unseen works, on display at SeMA’s retrospective exhibition / Newsis
Yoo’s son added that his father’s message resonates today.
“In an AI-driven era flooded with information, it is increasingly difficult to discern truth,” he said. “That is precisely why an attitude of self-reflection matters more, and Yoo’s exploration of the inner world will shine even more in the future.”
The exhibition also seeks to engage contemporary audiences through multimedia elements. Pianist Son Yeol-eum and broadcaster Peter Bint serve as voice ambassadors for the audio guide in Korean and English, respectively.
During Frieze Seoul and Seoul Art Week, Yoo’s vivid color palette will be reimagined as a media facade projection at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in collaboration with the Seoul Design Foundation.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 25 and is free to the public with online reservations.