en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Centre Pompidou Hanwha recently held its opening ceremony at the base of the 63 Building on Yeouido Island in Seoul. The 108,000-square-foot museum will open to the public on June 4. The venue is the Centre Pompidou's third international branch, following locations in Shanghai and Málaga, Spain.

Designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the new museum occupies the bottom four floors of a tower built in 1985 in Seoul's financial district, which also houses the headquarters of the Hanwha Group. The Hanwha Group is providing financial support for the project through its Hanwha Cultural Foundation.

The design firm Wilmotte & Associés calls the design a "box of light." The tower's podium features a double-skin glass envelope composed of backlit glass curtain walls, stretching nearly 500 feet along the Han River. Its curved form is inspired by the silhouette of traditional Korean roof tiles. A sculpture garden is planned for the ground floor.

Guests attending the ceremony included Centre Pompidou President Laurent Le Bon, French Ambassador to South Korea Philippe Bertoux, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Director Kim Sung-hee, and Hanwha Life President and Global Chief Officer Kim Dong-won, who delivered remarks on behalf of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon. Kim Sung-hee noted that the opening coincides with the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and France.

The inaugural exhibition will include Pablo Picasso's Curtain for the Ballet of Mercury and Marie Laurencin's Apollinaire and His Friends. The museum plans to host two exhibitions annually, alternating between shows featuring works on loan from the Paris collection and exhibitions of contemporary Korean artists.

The next Centre Pompidou branch to open is located in Brussels. A larger building designed by Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh is expected to open in Saudi Arabia in 2028. The Jersey City branch project, originally planned to be designed by OMA, was shelved in 2024.

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