Georg Baselitz at Sehwa Museum of Art Interview with director Mihee Ahn
By Cassie Packard
Stand at the foot of Jonathan Borofsky’s monumental sculpture Hammering Man (2002) in Seoul and the Sehwa Museum of Art isn’t far off. Located in the Heungkuk Life Insurance Building, the museum is on the eve of its ten-year anniversary. It is marking the occasion with a newly expanded exhibition space and a Georg Baselitz blockbuster, the neo-expressionist’s first institutional showing since his passing. frieze assistant editor Cassie Packard spoke with Sehwa Museum Director Mihee Ahn about the significance of these new developments and her plans to position Sehwa as a major cultural hub in Korea.
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CP From August to December, the Sehwa Museum will hold a Georg Baselitz retrospective: his first museum show since he passed away in April. Tell me about your plans for the exhibition, and how you are thinking about framing his legacy in the light of his recent passing.
MA The Baselitz exhibition started off as a celebration of his living energy and passion, but naturally now feels like more of a tribute. We feel a huge responsibility to honour his legacy. The retrospective, which we’re installing right now, features 46 of his major works spanning from 1966 all the way to his final creations, including works from our own collection. It’s an array that really demonstrates how he spent his whole life probing the depths of human emotion and human history.
CP This will be Baselitz’s first museum retrospective in Korea; previously, you held the first solo exhibitions in Korea devoted to Bernd Halbherr [in 2017] and James Rosenquist [in 2024]. How do you decide which international artists to bring to a domestic audience?
MA We look for artists who bring a fresh vision but haven’t been fully seen in Korea yet. For us, it’s not just about bringing big names; it’s about asking meaningful questions about contemporary art. We don’t see our international and Korean programs as two different channels; instead, these shows inspire local artists while helping audiences to see how Korean art fits into a global art scene.
