Lee Kun-hee Collection exhibition opens in London with royal guest

South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group has opened a special exhibition featuring the Lee Kun-hee Collection in London, with Princess Anne of the British royal family attending in person to celebrate the Korean art collection’s arrival in Europe.

Samsung said on Thursday that it held a gala dinner at the British Museum in London on Wednesday, local time, to celebrate the opening of the special exhibition, “Korea: 2,000 Years of Creativity.”

Princess Anne attended a reception held before the dinner to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.

The special exhibition was jointly organized by the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, and the British Museum.

It is the first large-scale special exhibition of Korean art at the British Museum in 42 years.

Following exhibitions in Washington, D.C., last year and Chicago this year, it is the third stop on the overseas tour and introduces European audiences to 2,000 years of Korean art and culture.

About 240 guests attended the gala dinner, including Jay Y. Lee, executive chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., Hong Ra-hee, honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, Lee Boo-jin, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hotel Shilla Co., and Lee Seo-hyun, president of Samsung C&T Corp.

British attendees included Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Kanishka Narayan, former Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, former Minister of State for Trade Policy Greg Hands, and Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey.

Executives from companies including BT Group, Vodafone, and Standard Chartered, representatives from the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, and contemporary artist Marc Quinn also attended.

In his remarks at the dinner, Lee expressed his respect and gratitude to three Korean War veterans, including Mike Lowe.

He also thanked Princess Anne, who visited the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Busan, in July to honor the sacrifices of Korean War veterans, reflecting on the ties between Korea and the United Kingdom spanning more than 140 years.

Executives from key partners supporting Samsung’s semiconductor business also gathered at the event.

They included ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet, Merck CEO Kai Beckmann, Zeiss CEO Andreas Pecher and Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec) CEO Patrick Vandenameele.

The companies and research institute cooperate with Samsung Electronics in areas including advanced semiconductor lithography equipment, materials, optics and next-generation technology research.

Lee also introduced the philosophy of preserving and sharing cultural heritage passed down from Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull and his late father, former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

The founding chairman began collecting artworks to preserve cultural heritage and pass it on to future generations, while the former chairman devoted his life to collecting works of art with the aim of preserving them rather than merely owning them.

Lee said Hong, his mother and the honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, dedicated herself to expanding and developing the collection to encompass both ancient and modern works.

“For generations, my family has upheld the principle that art and culture should be preserved and shared with others,” Lee said. “I hope this exhibition will provide an opportunity to understand Korea’s creativity and cultural heritage spanning 2,000 years.”

George Osborne, chairman of the British Museum’s board of trustees, said in his congratulatory remarks that the dedication of Lee Kun-hee and his family “greatly helps us understand the past and will also serve as a compass for looking toward the future.”

Narayan said that “this exhibition will give the British public an opportunity to experience Korea’s outstanding artistic heritage.”

The two previous exhibitions in the United States attracted a total of 195,000 visitors.

About 80,000 people attended the Washington, D.C., exhibition, which opened in November last year, making it the most visited special exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in the past decade.

About 115,000 people visited the Chicago exhibition held from March through July this year.