# National Museum of Korea: Collectors of Light

> A special exhibition centred on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Robert Lehman Collection, with particularly memorable lighting.

- Author: Sunwoong Joo (주선웅)
- Language: en
- Published: 2026-02-16
- Updated: 2026-11-01
- Canonical: <https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/>
- Other edition: [KO](https://scrapsquare.com/article/lehman-impressionism/index.md)

[Collectors of Light](https://www.museum.go.kr/MUSEUM/contents/M0202010000.do?exhiSpThemId=3126913&listType=gallery&menuId=current&schM=view)
is a special exhibition from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met, at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.
Centred on the Robert Lehman Collection, it follows French painting and drawing from late nineteenth-century Impressionism to early twentieth-century Modernism.
I had been looking through a good deal of Met material for work recently, so I was pleased to hear that the exhibition was coming to Seoul.

## Bringing the Lehman Wing to Seoul

The Robert Lehman Collection grew out of the private collection assembled by the banker over sixty years.
His bequest is said to have stipulated that the works be displayed in surroundings that evoked the atmosphere of the Lehman family home.
The [Robert Lehman Foundation's website](https://robertlehmanfoundation.org/robert-lehman-foundation/) shows the house as it was, while the [Met's Lehman Wing page](https://www.metmuseum.org/departments/the-robert-lehman-collection) shows how that setting was recreated.

The [National Museum of Korea](https://www.museum.go.kr/MUSEUM/contents/M0701040000.do?arcId=23216&catCustomType=post&catId=93&cp=1&schM=view&sv=) explains that the exhibition's opening space also draws on the domestic atmosphere of the Lehman Wing.
During my visit, I wondered whether the red walls and curtains were meant to suggest an American theatre interior of the period.
It was interesting to discover afterwards that they referred to the Met's Lehman Wing, and, further back, to Lehman's wishes for his collection.

## From Taipei to Seoul

The exhibition travelled to Seoul after its showing at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
The Met lists both venues under [Loans and Touring Exhibitions](https://www.metmuseum.org/hubs/international-initiatives-and-engagement).
They appear to share the same checklist and arrangement into five themes, although the [National Palace Museum's published photographs](https://www.npm.gov.tw/News-Content.aspx?sno=04014138&l=1&idstr=MDEwMDAwMDE=)
suggest that Taipei used red walls to reinterpret the Lehman Wing within a more contemporary exhibition space.

| Period | Venue | Exhibition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| June - October 2025 | National Palace Museum, Taipei | [French Masterpieces from the Robert Lehman Collection](https://www.npm.gov.tw/Exhibition-Content.aspx?l=2&sno=04014055) |
| November 2025 - March 2026 | National Museum of Korea, Seoul | [Collectors of Light](https://www.museum.go.kr/ENG/contents/E0202020000.do?exhiSpThemId=3126913&listType=list&menuId=upcomming&schM=view) |

## Robert Lehman and Salvador Dalí

The exhibition begins with the story of Robert Lehman commissioning Salvador Dalí to copy a Vermeer.
Lehman valued Old Master painting, and the commission is presented as a way of filling the Vermeer-shaped gap in his collection.

I tend to enjoy these stories behind the works, so I looked into whether Dalí and Lehman had also been personal friends.
The sources I found establish little beyond their direct correspondence about the commission. What caught my attention was that this was the only Dalí in his collection.

[Volume 3 of the Met's Robert Lehman Collection catalogue](https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/the-robert-lehman-collection-vol-3-nineteenth-and-twentieth-century-paintings)
describes a 1956 letter in which Lehman wrote that, if he liked the copy, he would commission another, choosing a Vermeer in the United States.
No further commissions seem to have followed. The catalogue also records Lehman's view that the weave of the canvas in Dalí's copy was too coarse.

![Salvador Dalí's The Lacemaker displayed against a red wall](https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/collectors-light-dali-lacemaker-installation.jpg)


Salvador Dalí, The Lacemaker (after Vermeer), 1955. [The Met collection](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/461684).

## Memorable Exhibition Lighting

The way several paintings were lit has stayed with me.
Pierre-Auguste Cot's Springtime seemed particularly well suited to an exhibition called Collectors of Light. Even saying that the painting glowed hardly does it justice.

![Pierre-Auguste Cot's Springtime on display](https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/collectors-light-cot-springtime.jpg)


Pierre-Auguste Cot, Springtime, 1873. [The Met collection](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438158).


![Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta's Masqueraders on display](https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/collectors-light-madrazzo-masked-couple.jpg)


Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, Masqueraders, 1875-1878. [The Met collection](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459124).

Another work that stayed with me was Camille Pissarro's The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning.
The light in Albert Marquet's The Port de Bougie, Algeria, in Sunlight brought back memories of the waterfront in Tongyeong, on Korea's southern coast.

![Camille Pissarro's The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning on display](https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/collectors-light-pissarro-boulevard-montmartre.jpg)


Camille Pissarro, The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning, 1897. [The Met collection](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437310).


![Albert Marquet's The Port de Bougie, Algeria, in Sunlight on display](https://scrapsquare.com/en/article/lehman-impressionism/collectors-light-marquet-port-de-bougie.jpg)


Albert Marquet, The Port de Bougie, Algeria, in Sunlight, 1925. [The Met collection](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459158).

## Looking Through the 81 Works

The National Museum of Korea's official exhibition microsite provides a [list of all 81 works](http://www.xn--py1bj4cn3i1pc87b78mwwep52a.com/sub_list).
The exhibition brings together 65 works from the Robert Lehman Collection and sixteen from the Met's European Paintings, Modern and Contemporary Art, American Art, and Drawings and Prints collections.
An asterisk in the table marks a Met work from outside the Robert Lehman Collection.

| No. | Artist | Work |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Salvador Dalí | [The Lacemaker (after Vermeer)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/461684) |
| 2 | Edgar Degas | [Youth with Arms Upraised](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460060) |
| 3 | Edgar Degas | [Youth in an Attitude of Defense](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460061) |
| 4 | Attributed to Gustave Courbet | [Man with Upraised Arm, Possibly a Self-Portrait](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459777) |
| 5 | Pierre Puvis de Chavannes | [Bathers](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/339661) \* |
| 6 | Paul Gauguin | [Tahitian Women Bathing](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459100) |
| 7 | Paul Cézanne | [Bathers](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435867) \* |
| 8 | Henri Matisse | [Nude in an Armchair (Nu au fauteuil)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459162) |
| 9 | Suzanne Valadon | [Reclining Nude](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/461643) |
| 10 | Georges Seurat | [Study for "Poseuses"](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459191) |
| 11 | Paul Signac | [Seated Nude Woman](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/339764) \* |
| 12 | Suzanne Valadon | [After the Bath](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460078) |
| 13 | Suzanne Valadon | [Before the Bath](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460080) |
| 14 | Auguste Rodin | [Study of a Nude with Drapery](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460076) |
| 15 | Aristide Maillol | [Standing Nude](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460089) |
| 16 | Henri Matisse | [Reflection in the Mirror](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459239) |
| 17 | Jean-Frédéric Bazille | [Manet and his Easel](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460064) |
| 18 | Attributed to Honoré Daumier | [Two Drinkers](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460036) |
| 19 | Honoré Daumier | [Two Drinkers](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460035) |
| 20 | Pierre-Auguste Cot | [Springtime](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438158) \* |
| 21 | Possibly after Gustave Moreau | [Salomé Dancing Before the Head of St. John the Baptist](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460053) |
| 22 | Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta | [Masqueraders](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459124) |
| 23 | Odilon Redon | [Pegasus and Bellerophon](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459400) |
| 24 | Edouard Vuillard | [Mme Vuillard Sewing by the Window, rue Truffaut](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459174) |
| 25 | Edouard Vuillard | [Interior](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/489556) \* |
| 26 | Edouard Vuillard | [Misia at the Piano](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459173) |
| 27 | Edouard Vuillard | [Self-Portrait with Waroquy](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/488853) \* |
| 28 | Edouard Vuillard | [Luncheon](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/481923) \* |
| 29 | Edouard Vuillard | [The Artist's Mother](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460022) |
| 30 | Auguste Renoir | [Young Girl in a Pink-and-Black Hat](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437438) \* |
| 31 | Adolph Menzel | [Studies of a Young Woman](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460057) |
| 32 | Marie Laurencin | [Conversation](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460103) |
| 33 | Berthe Morisot | [Study for "Young Girl in a Green Coat"](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460066) |
| 34 | Auguste Renoir | [Two Young Girls at the Piano](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459112) |
| 35 | Mary Cassatt | [Portrait of a Young Girl](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10406) \* |
| 36 | Mary Cassatt | [Spring: Margot Standing in a Garden (Fillette dans un jardin)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10422) \* |
| 37 | Mary Cassatt | [Denise at Her Dressing Table](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/18838) \* |
| 38 | Albert Marquet | [Sergeant of the Colonial Regiment](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459159) |
| 39 | Kees van Dongen | [Maria](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/461689) |
| 40 | Théodore Rousseau | [The Pool (Memory of the Forest of Chambord)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459114) |
| 41 | Théodore Rousseau | [The Pond (La Mare)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459115) |
| 42 | Henri-Joseph Harpignies | [Fir Trees in Les Trembleaux, near Marlotte (Sapins aux Trembleaux à Marlotte)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459104) |
| 43 | Jules Dupré | [Landscape with Cattle at Limousin](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459099) |
| 44 | Charles-François Daubigny | [Landscape with Ducks](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459096) |
| 45 | Attributed to Eugène Boudin | [Landscape](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460051) |
| 46 | Paul Cézanne | [Trees and Houses Near the Jas de Bouffan](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459092) |
| 47 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Landscape with Stars](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459189) |
| 48 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Pines Along the Shore](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459095) |
| 49 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Garden of the Painter at Saint Clair](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459733) |
| 50 | Vincent van Gogh | [The Flowering Orchard](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436527) \* |
| 51 | Armand Guillaumin | [The Bouchardon Mill, Crozant](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459102) |
| 52 | Georges Seurat | [Study for "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459117) |
| 53 | Paul Signac | [Place de Clichy](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459120) |
| 54 | Georges Rouault | [Mythical Landscape (Paysage légendaire)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459163) |
| 55 | Maurice Utrillo | [40, Rue Ravignan](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459164) |
| 56 | Camille Pissarro | [The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437310) \* |
| 57 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Study for 'Le Ranelagh'](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459732) |
| 58 | Paul Signac | [Paris: Pont Royal and the Gare d'Orsay](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459266) |
| 59 | Alfred Sisley | [Allée of Chestnut Trees](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459121) |
| 60 | Alfred Sisley | [Rue Eugène Moussoir at Moret: Winter](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437686) \* |
| 61 | Edgar Degas | [View of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459098) |
| 62 | Auguste Renoir | [Versailles](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459113) |
| 63 | Auguste Renoir | [Figures under a Tree](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459967) |
| 64 | Auguste Renoir | [Landscape with a Girl](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459969) |
| 65 | Kees van Dongen | [At the Racetrack](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460969) |
| 66 | Camille Pissarro | [The Harvest, Pontoise (La Récolte, Pontoise)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459108) |
| 67 | Georges Seurat | [The Mower](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459116) |
| 68 | Camille Pissarro | [Marketplace in Pontoise](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459738) |
| 69 | Pierre Bonnard | [The Goatherd (recto)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/460086) |
| 70 | Georges Seurat | [The Lighthouse at Honfleur](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459360) |
| 71 | Auguste Renoir | [View of the Seacoast near Wargemont in Normandy](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437426) \* |
| 72 | Pierre Bonnard | [View of The Old Port, Saint-Tropez](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/483234) \* |
| 73 | Auguste Renoir | [Figures on the Beach](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459109) |
| 74 | Pierre Bonnard | [House on the Seine near Vernon](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459140) |
| 75 | Albert Marquet | [The Port de Bougie, Algeria, in Sunlight](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459158) |
| 76 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Venice: Night of the Festival of the Redeemer](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459728) |
| 77 | Henri-Edmond Cross | [Cap Nègre](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459734) |
| 78 | Maurice de Vlaminck | [Sunlight on Water](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459170) |
| 79 | Maurice de Vlaminck | [Sails at Chatou](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459168) |
| 80 | Paul Signac | [Still Life with Jug](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459273) |
| 81 | Paul Signac | [Le Pouliguen: Fishing Boats](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459269) |

**Where:** Special Exhibition Gallery 1, National Museum of Korea, Seoul

**Exhibition:** Collectors of Light  
14 November 2025 - 15 March 2026

**Hours:** Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun 10:00-18:00; Wed, Sat 10:00-21:00

**Ticket:** Standard adult admission: KRW 19,000 (about US$14)

The dollar figure gives a sense of scale at the [23 October 2026 reference rate](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/20261026/) of KRW 1,325.06 per US dollar.