On display at My Art Museum in Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Collection from the Ricci Oddi Museum of Modern Art in Italy
First overseas exhibition of Klimt's "Portrait of a Woman," returned after 23 years
Open throughout the Lunar New Year holiday except on the 17th
The essence of modern and contemporary Italian art
If you missed the chance to take a family trip during this year's shorter-than-usual Lunar New Year holiday, how about spending time with some of the world's most famous artworks instead?
Right in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, there is a landmark exhibition now open that is well worth a family visit.
It is "The Miracle of Gustav Klimt and Ricci Oddi: Collection from the Ricci Oddi Museum of Modern Art, Italy," currently being held at My Art Museum in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
'The Miracle of Klimt and Ricci Oddi: Collection from the Ricci Oddi Modern Art Museum, Italy' Poster. My Art Museum
First overseas exhibition of Klimt's masterpiece 'Portrait of a Woman'
This exhibition is a special show jointly organized by My Art Museum and Bichae Art Museum in collaboration with the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi in Piacenza, Italy, near Milan, where the 2026 Winter Olympics are being held.
It offers an opportunity to appreciate masterpieces collected over more than 40 years by Giuseppe Ricci Oddi (1868-1937), a renowned jurist and patron of the arts.
In particular, this exhibition allows visitors to see in person the much-discussed "Portrait of a Woman" by Austrian master Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), whose works swept the top three price ranks at Sotheby's New York auctions last year.
Klimt's "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" was sold at a Sotheby's auction late last year for 236.4 million dollars (about 346.4 billion won), the highest price ever paid for a modern artwork. "Portrait of a Woman" is a masterpiece that rivals it in both artistic value and public interest.
Since Piacenza aristocrat and collector Ricci Oddi added Klimt's "Portrait of a Woman" to his collection in 1925, this is the first time the work has ever been exhibited outside Italy.
A video posted at the 'The Miracle of Klimt and Richiodi' exhibition currently on view at My Art Museum. It shows Maga Claudia, who first discovered that Klimt's 'Portrait of a Lady' is a double portrait, being interviewed about the circumstances at the time. Photo by Choi Seokjin.
The secret of the 'double portrait' discovered by an art student
"Portrait of a Woman" was revealed in 1996 through X-ray analysis to be Klimt's only "double portrait." At the time, young art student Claudia Maga noticed that Klimt's lost portrait reproduced in the museum catalogue and "Portrait of a Woman" overlapped significantly in the hairline, eyebrows, and eye shape.
At Maga's suggestion, the museum director commissioned an X-ray analysis. Through details such as traces of hair in the lower left of the work that can be seen under a microscope, it was finally confirmed that another painting had been overlaid on the original canvas, making it a "double portrait."
The original work beneath the overpainting is "Portrait of a Young Woman," which Klimt submitted to the 9th Venice Biennale in 1910. Later known as "Backfisch" (a term for a teenage girl), the work depicted a far bolder figure wearing a wide-brimmed black hat and wrapped in a blue stole draped below her shoulders.
The most persuasive theory about the identity of this girl is that she was "Ria Munk," a woman from Vienna who took her own life in 1911. According to this view, her bereaved family commissioned Klimt to paint the portrait in memory of their prematurely deceased daughter.
However, because Klimt did not specify her name and there are no records of the bereaved family owning the work, her identity remains a mystery.
Song Juhan, department head at Bichae Art Museum, explained, "Given that Klimt was financially well-off at the time, the leading theory is that he did not paint over the portrait to reuse the canvas, but instead created a new portrait imagining what the woman he loved might have looked like had she lived."
Introduction to Klimt's 'Portrait of a Woman' displayed at 'The Miracle of Klimt and Richiodi' exhibition at My Art Museum. Choi Seokjin, Reporter
Return after 23 years of theft... a Christmas miracle
"Portrait of a Woman," which was stolen in 1997, was discovered 23 years later, just before Christmas in 2019, inside a black garbage bag by a gardener who was clearing ivy from the outer wall of the museum. The incident drew worldwide attention and came to be known as the "Christmas miracle."
After detailed scientific analysis, the painting was authenticated as genuine and on November 28, 2020, "Portrait of a Woman" finally returned to its original place at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi. Until this exhibition, it had never once left Italy to be shown abroad.
Comprising a total of 13 sections, the exhibition includes a special section titled "The Klimt Enigma," which presents the process of the work's discovery and the mysterious narrative surrounding it. By structuring a true story as an emotionally powerful artistic experience, the exhibition offers not only Korean visitors but art lovers worldwide a special moment to stand face to face with Klimt's masterpiece "Portrait of a Woman," which may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
'Before the Mirror' by Giacomo Grosso, the master of portraiture from Cambiano, Italy. Choi Seokjin, Reporter
In addition, this Seoul exhibition, which is organized into 13 sections in total, presents about 70 representative works that carry on Ricci Oddi's spirit. Through portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings by masters of modern Italian art such as Antonio Mancini (1852-1930), Domenico Morelli (1823-1901), and Federico Zandomeneghi (1841-1917), visitors can gain a comprehensive view of the evolution of artistic styles and movements from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
Since its establishment in 2019, My Art Museum has mainly collaborated with leading museums in Europe and the United States to present specially curated exhibitions of modern and contemporary masterpieces that represent 19th- and 20th-century Western art history.
Since opening in October 2019, it has held 14 blockbuster exhibitions and attracted a cumulative total of 1.2 million visitors. Located near Samseong Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, My Art Museum enjoys excellent accessibility and is equipped not only with exhibition halls but also with various amenities such as a lobby lounge, art shop, cafe, seminar room, children's education room, and restaurant. It holds a Google rating of 4.5 out of 5.0 and is regarded as one of the finest private exhibition spaces in Korea.
During the Lunar New Year holiday, My Art Museum will be closed only on Lunar New Year's Day (the 17th) and will welcome visitors on all other days. Tickets can be purchased on-site or reserved through platforms such as NOL (Interpark) Ticket, Naver, Kakao, 29CM, and 99Ticket.
'The Miracle of Klimt and Richiodi: Collection from the Italian Richiodi Museum of Modern Art' ? entrance to My Art Museum, B1, Textile Center Building, Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Choi Seokjin
*Galleria d'Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi
The Ricci Oddi Museum of Modern Art is located in the city of Piacenza, Italy, and was founded on the basis of the private collection of Giuseppe Ricci Oddi, a jurist and patron of the arts from Piacenza. He began collecting works in earnest in 1897 and, in 1924, decided to build a dedicated museum for his collection, donating the land for the project.
The present museum was created by converting an old monastery building, designed by architect Giulio Ulisse Arata. Today, the museum holds around 700 paintings and sculptures, consisting mainly of works by Italian artists from the 1830s to the early 1930s. The collection spans regions and periods, reflecting currents such as Northern Italian Impressionism, Scapigliatura, Symbolism, and the Macchiaioli.
The exhibition space consists of 19 rooms in total, where a ceiling structure that brings in natural light harmonizes with the historic building's antique atmosphere. Going beyond a simple private collection, the Ricci Oddi Museum was donated to the city of Piacenza at the time of its opening and has been operated as a public art museum, serving as a hub for educational and cultural activities for the local community.
Among its representative holdings is Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of a Woman," which was stolen in 1997 and dramatically rediscovered in 2019. In addition, the museum owns many works by various artists who are central to the history of Italian art.
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