The Museum SAN (Space Art Nature) is located in Oak Valley, in the mountains of

Wonju Wonju (; ) is the most populous Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gangwon Province, South Korea, with a population of 364,860 as of 2023. The city is located approximately east of Seoul. History During the time of Joseon, Gr ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. It was designed by Japanese architect

Tadao Ando is a self-taught Japanese autodidact architect known for his unique integration of architecture and landscape. Architectural historian Francesco Dal Co described his work as an example of " critical regionalism". Ando received the prestigious ...

and is under the administration of the

Hansol Hansol Group () is a South Korean conglomerate, or chaebol. The corporation's main operations are paper products, electronics, chemicals, logistics, IT technology and solution services, household interiors, and construction. Hansol used to be ...

Cultural Foundation. Ando said he designed the museum to express gratitude for the architecture and its beautiful natural environment. The museum, which is composed of a welcome center, flower garden, water garden, meditation hall, stone garden, main building, and

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...

exhibition hall, focuses on the interaction of art and nature. Other facilities include a print shop, cafe, and museum shop. The museum receives about 1 million visitors per year, and was shortlisted for the Leading Culture Destinations of 2015 award, Asia section, by leadingculturedestinations.com.

Museum architecture

Oakvalley is a purpose-built resort that is owned by the Hansol Group. The museum stretches along a mountain top. According to Ando, the architect who designed the $70 million main building and grounds, "I wanted to create a garden museum in the sky, a dreamlike museum like no other." The main building consists of four oblong boxes joined by circular and triangular courtyards, and clad in paju, a local, honey-colored stone. This building houses the Paper Gallery and the Cheongjo Galleries. In addition to the main building, the museum includes a flower garden, water garden, stone garden, James Turrell exhibition hall, and outdoor sculptures including

Alexander Liberman Alexander Semeonovitch Liberman (September 4, 1912 – November 19, 1999) was a Ukrainian-American magazine editor, publisher, painter, photographer, and sculptor. He held senior artistic positions during his 32 years at Condé Nast Publicatio ...

's sculpture, ''Archway''. The museum opened in 2013 as the Hansol Museum and was renamed Museum SAN in 2014.

Exhibits

Paper gallery

The Hansol Paper Museum opened in 1997. It was named for Hansol Paper, the founding company of the Hansol Cultural Foundation. This collection, which includes hair ornaments and maps made of paper that feels like animal skin, now forms one of the permanent exhibits at Museum SAN.

James Turrell

James Turrell is known as an artist who "paints with light". Five exhibits by Turrell are permanently on exhibit in a separate building. The exhibits are: ''Wedgework'', which uses projected light to give the illusion of walls; ''Ganzfeld'', which uses light to eliminate depth perception; and three exhibits, ''Skyspace'', ''Horizon Room'', and ''Space Division'', that involve viewing the sky or a light-filled room through an aperture in the ceiling or wall.

Temporary exhibits

The art collection comes from the private collection of Lee In-Hee, an advisor to the Hansol Group and the daughter of

Lee Byung-chul Lee Byung-chul (; 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean businessman who founded the Samsung Group, the country's largest chaebol ( conglomerate). Lee founded Samsung in 1938, at the age of 28. He is recognized as the most ...

(the founding chairman of

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

). This collection focuses on Korean art after 1945 and forms the basis for many of the museum's biennial exhibitions. Recent exhibitions: * ''Being in Nature'' focuses on the interaction of humans and nature. The exhibition includes 45 pieces by 19 artists including

Seund Ja Rhee Seund Ja Rhee (also transcribed as Seongja Lee; June 3, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was a South Korean painter, engraver, draughtswoman, and illustrator. She also designed tapestries and mosaics. She was a prolific artist with more than 1,000 painti ...

, a pioneer of Korean abstract art. * ''Korean Modern Art 1: Western Painting'' features works, from the museum's collection, from artists such as

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" ...

References

{{coord missing, South Korea Museums in South Korea