Lee Kun-hee’s father was the founder of Samsung technology group in the 1930s. By 1987, Lee Kun-hee inherited Samsung and had turned it into the largest manufacturer of smartphones and memory chip in the world. He passed away in October 2020 at the age of 78 with an estimated fortune of about 26 trillion won. According to Forbes, Lee is the richest person in Korea, he has held this position for 12 years. In April 2021, Lee Kun-hee’s family announced they would pay more than half of his estate’s value in inheritance tax over a five-year period.
South Korea has among the highest inheritance tax rates in the world, charging 50% of the value of assets, rising to 60% for company shares inherited by large shareholders. By comparison, the UK and the US charge inheritance tax at 40% (above a tax-free threshold of £325,000 in the UK). In the announcement on the payment of inheritance tax, Lee Kun-hee’s family said they will pay more than 12 trillion won in inheritance tax and donate the majority of his collection—more than 23,000 works of art—including works by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat and one of Claude Monet’s water lily paintings—to Korean national museums. Lee’s wife and three children said they were happy to pay the huge tax bill. “It is our civic duty and responsibility to pay all taxes,” they said in a rare public statement, noting that “the inheritance tax payment is one of the largest ever in Korea and globally”.
The total value of Lee Kun-hee’s collection—which includes Chagall’s ‘Bride and Groom with Bouquet’ and Dalí’s ‘Family of Marsupial Centaurs’—is estimated at 2 trillion won (about more than 1.6 billion USD). The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art said the 1,488 pieces it is receiving from the Lee family was its biggest ever private donation. The family also announced it was donating 1tn won to improve public healthcare, including 500bn won to build South Korea’s first specialist hospital for infectious disease. The family said they hoped the donations would “uphold his legacy and contribute to the creation of a better society”.
A few months after the announcement of the donation from Mr. Lee’s family, two exhibitions took place in Seoul, at the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) of Korea, including antiques dating back centuries and contemporary Korean works of art. The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism previously announced the donation of artworks by Mr. Lee’s family to public collections. In a press release at the time, the ministry said acquiring these works would help the two museums “compete with famous foreign museums.” The ministry also revealed that it is planning to build a new museum dedicated to Mr. Lee’s collection.
According to senior curator of MMCA, Park Mihwa, the collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures represented the single largest contribution received by the museum “in terms of both value and scale.” Ms Park shared to CNN: “The rare and major artworks of the early 20th century and overseas works have greatly enhanced the quality and quantity of the museum,” describing the acquisition as “an opportunity to expand the horizons of art history research through continuous research.” “We have obtained masterpieces that would have been difficult to purchase with our annual collection budget of 5 billion won ($4.35 million),” she added. “So we expect this collection will help art tourism as well as help South Korea to become a powerhouse of art culture in the future.” Among the items acquired by MMCA are 119 works by Western artists, including Paul Gauguin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró. But more than 90% of the pieces are by contemporary Korean artists, including over 100 works by painter Lee Jungseop and almost 70 by celebrated craftsman Yoo Kangyul, reports CNN.
A year after the donation, the two national museums – The National Museum of Korea and The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea – have selected works from the donated collection that present the identity of Korean culture for an exhibition titled “A Collector’s Invitation”. Curator Lee Su-kyung shared: “Many people wonder what kind of artworks Lee had, and expect him to have had a lot of treasures and such. In fact, he kept a lot of valuable Korean cultural artifacts that are very precious. With Lee’s collection, we want the visitors to learn about our ancestors’ wisdom and the path they had walked through,” she added.
Near the exit of the exhibition was the quote of Mr Lee taken from the opening ceremony speech of the Leeum Museum of Art in October 2004: “Collecting and preserving cultural heritage is vital for the future of human culture. It is our obligation required of the times.”
Source: TBS News, The Guardian, The Korea Herald
Some artworks in the exhibition of Lee Kun-hee’s collection at The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (from the website of the museum):
Paul Gauguin, ‘Crane on the banks of the Seine 1875,
oil on canvas, 77.2×119.8 cm
Camille Pissarro, ‘The cereal market in Pontoise’ 1893,
oil on canvas, 46.5×39 cm
Claude Monet, ‘The water-lily pond’ 1917-1920,
oil on canvas, 100×200.5 cm
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
‘Andrée in yellow turban and red skirt (reading)’ 1917-1918,
oil on canvas
Joan Miró, ‘Painting’ 1953, oil on canvas, 96×376 cm
© Successió Miró/ ADAGP, Paris – SACK, Seoul, 2022
Pablo Picasso, ‘Jacqueline at the easel’ 1956,
© 2022 – Succession Pablo Picasso – SACK (Korea)