Kim Whan-ki

Kim Whan-ki, also known as Whanki, is considered the pioneering master of Korean abstract art, whose work bridged Eastern sensibility and Western modernism across his career in Korea, Paris, and New York. His iconic dot paintings, created during his New York period in the 1960s and 1970s, feature luminous fields of meticulously repeated dots in deep blues and other hues, evoking the meditative qualities of the Korean landscape and traditional ceramics. His work 19-VII-71 #200 set a record as the most expensive Korean artwork ever sold at auction, and the Whanki Museum in Seoul remains a dedicated institution preserving and promoting his extraordinary legacy.