"I think Art should contain songs."

▲ Universe 05-IV-71 #200Oil on cotton, 254 x 254 cm

The most expensive piece of Korean art sold is Kim Whanki's 'Universe(1971)'. The universe was sold for 88 million Hong Kong dollars at Christie's auction in Hong Kong in 2019. This price is the highest price among Korean works sold so far. The actual price of the universe is about 100 million Hong Kong dollars, including the auction winning bid fee.

Who is Kim Whanki, who is called “the most expensive painter” in Korea? 

He is a pioneer of Korean abstract art and a representative painter of 20th century Korean art. He abstracted his works based on Korean materials such as mountains, rivers, sky, moon, and clouds. In particular, his works are condensed into dots, lines, and planes.

In April 1932, he entered the art department of Tokyo Nihon University. Here, he participated in the 'avant-garde Western Painting Institute', an art group. During this period, he worked with Fujita Tsuguharu, Gil Jin-seop, and Kim Byung-gi, and held several exhibitions at various art galleries in Tokyo.

From 1946 to 1952, he taught students at Seoul National University and Hongik University. At the age of 44, he suddenly left for Paris, where he worked in Paris, Nice, and Belgium.

In 1963, he participated in the Sao Paulo Biennale as a representative of Korea and received an 'Honorary Award'. After that, he worked in New York for 11 years. It was during this time that Kim Whanki's representative works.

In 1970, He received the Grand prize for his famous 'Where, in what form, shall we meet again' at the '1st Korean Art Grand Prize Exhibition' hosted by the HankookIlbo. 

He collapsed suddenly in 1974 from a cerebral hemorrhage. On the 25th of the same month, he died in New York. He was 61 years old at the time of death.

He was buried in the Kensico Cemetery in Vahalla, New York, where he usually attended. His tombstone was erected by sculptor Han Yong-jin, and calligrapher Kim Eung-hyun wrote on it.

“What I felt when I came here was the spirit of poem.
I think Art should contain songs. In the works of masters, everyone has a powerful song.” From Whanki Kim’s Memoirs

Sayart.net / Maria Kim sayart2022@gmail.com