In the final week of May 2026, major sales by Korea’s two leading auction houses, K Auction and Seoul Auction, will take place one day apart. K Auction will hold its May sale at its headquarters in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, at 4 p.m. on May 27, while Seoul Auction will hold its 192nd Art Auction at the Seoul Auction Gangnam Center at 4 p.m. on May 28.
 
K Auction will present a total of 83 works, with an estimated value of approximately KRW 10.4 billion (about USD 6.84 million). Seoul Auction will offer a total of 145 works, with a combined low estimate of approximately KRW 10.3 billion (about USD 6.77 million).
 
The central point of these May auctions lies less in large-scale expansion than in a selective structure built around proven artists and rare works.
 
 
 
K Auction’s May Sale Centers on Park Soo-keun and Do Ho Suh
 
K Auction’s May sale presents a structure that brings together stable demand for Korean modern art and the broader possibilities of global contemporary art.
 
The sale includes works by major Korean modern and contemporary artists such as Park Soo-keun, Kim Whanki, Yoo Youngkuk, Lee Jung-seob, Lee Ungno, Nam June Paik, Yun Hyong-keun, Park Seo-bo, and Lee Ufan. Works by contemporary and international artists, including Do Ho Suh, Angel Otero, Ayako Rokkaku, and Anna Park, will also be offered.
 
The most notable work is Park Soo-keun’s On the Way Home, painted in 1964. The work is returning to the market after about 12 years, following its appearance in the 2014 exhibition commemorating the centennial of Park Soo-keun’s birth. Bidding will begin at KRW 850 million (about USD 559,000).
 
Showing the formal characteristics of Park’s late period, the work reflects the rarity and stable demand that continue to define the Korean modern art market, particularly through the artist’s distinctive granite-like surface texture and restrained figural composition.

Do Ho Suh’s large-scale installation Cause & Effect is also among the major works in the sale. Measuring 164 cm in diameter and 300 cm in height, the installation has been presented as a key work in the contemporary art section of K Auction’s May sale.
 
Do Ho Suh has established a strong position in the international art world, and this offering may serve as a reference point for assessing how much bidding interest a large-scale installation can generate in the Korean auction market.

Yoo Youngkuk’s 1988 work Mountain will also be offered, with an estimate of KRW 400 million to KRW 800 million (about USD 263,000 to USD 526,000). Kim Whanki’s 1969 work Untitled will be offered with an estimate of KRW 780 million to KRW 1.5 billion (about USD 513,000 to USD 986,000). Both works belong to the core category of the Korean abstract art market, and factors such as the artist’s production period, the work’s series, and the realism of the estimate are expected to play an important role in determining bidding interest.

K Auction’s composition is less a simple lineup of well-known names than a strategy aimed at securing stability through artists and price ranges with relatively strong transaction potential in the current market.
 
Works by Korean modern masters support market confidence, while internationally recognized artists such as Do Ho Suh and Nam June Paik address demand for contemporary art and global collecting. This suggests that the domestic auction market is currently operating less as a broad upward cycle than as a structure in which limited liquidity is concentrated around proven artists and works.
 
 
 
Seoul Auction Foregrounds Antique Art and Modern Korean Abstraction
 
Seoul Auction’s 192nd Art Auction is structured around both modern and contemporary art and antique art.
 
The most symbolic work in Seoul Auction’s May sale is the hand-colored manuscript copy of Daedongyeojido, designated as a National Registered Cultural Heritage. The work will be offered with a low estimate of KRW 2 billion (about USD 1.32 million).
 
Based on the Sinyu edition published by Kim Jeong-ho in 1861, the hand-colored manuscript copy consists of 22 folded sections. When fully opened, it measures approximately 390 cm in width and 685 cm in height. Its academic value and rarity are particularly highlighted by the inclusion of “Usan” (于山), referring to present-day Dokdo, a notation that is difficult to find in woodblock editions.

In the modern and contemporary art section, Kim Whanki’s 1971 work 7-Ⅲ-71 is a notable offering. The work is an oil-on-paper piece from the all-over dot painting style that the artist pursued during his New York period, with an estimate of KRW 500 million to KRW 1 billion (about USD 329,000 to USD 658,000). Kim Whanki’s New York-period works form one of the most stable areas of demand in the Korean abstract art market.
 
Although this work differs from his large-scale canvas all-over dot paintings in medium and scale, it is likely to draw market attention because it belongs to the period in which the artist’s core formal language was established.

Yoo Youngkuk’s 1978 work Work is also included as a major offering. The work will be offered with a low estimate of KRW 1 billion (about USD 658,000). Yoo Youngkuk is a key figure in Korean abstract art, and recent museum exhibitions and market reassessment have both contributed to renewed attention around his work. The result of this work may serve as an indicator of the price level at which current demand for Korean abstract art is willing to accept Yoo Youngkuk’s market value.

Seoul Auction’s May sale differs from K Auction in that it combines antique art with modern Korean abstraction. While K Auction builds a two-part structure around the modern and the contemporary through Park Soo-keun and Do Ho Suh, Seoul Auction emphasizes both historical rarity and art-historical stability through the hand-colored manuscript copy of Daedongyeojido and works by Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk.
 
This is not merely an expansion of categories. It also indicates that collector interest is being divided across different value systems within antique art, modern art, and contemporary art, rather than being grouped under a single art-market trend.
 
 
 
Key Points to Watch in the May Auctions
 
The May major auctions can be viewed less as a measure of what the Korean art market is newly expanding into, and more as a way to identify which artists and categories of works the market currently places confidence in. In a rapidly rising market, experimental demand tends to increase for new artists, genres, and price ranges. In a period of adjustment, however, art-historical validation, rarity, and the realism of the estimate function as key criteria in determining whether bidding takes place.
 
From this perspective, K Auction’s Park Soo-keun On the Way Home and Seoul Auction’s Kim Whanki 7-Ⅲ-71 and Yoo Youngkuk Work serve as indicators of basic demand for Korean modern art and abstract art. The results of these works may show, beyond the success or failure of individual works, the price levels at which art-historically validated artists can currently be accepted in the auction market. In particular, production period, work series, medium and size, exhibition history, and frequency of circulation in the market are factors that directly affect bidding strength.
 
By contrast, Do Ho Suh’s Cause & Effect and Seoul Auction’s hand-colored manuscript copy of Daedongyeojido point to different possibilities for market expansion. Do Ho Suh’s work will allow observers to see the extent to which a large-scale installation by an internationally recognized contemporary artist can secure market acceptance in Korea’s auction sector. Because installation works involve more complex conditions for storage, installation, and resale than paintings or other two-dimensional works, the outcome and bidding range may provide useful reference material for assessing the scope of acceptance for contemporary art collecting.
 
The hand-colored manuscript copy of Daedongyeojido is a case that shows how antique art and historical materials may be evaluated within the current collecting market. The significance of this work’s result lies not simply in whether it achieves a high price, but in whether demand for the rarity, academic value, and collection stability of a cultural heritage-level material can translate into an actual transaction.
 
Therefore, the central issue in these auctions lies not in setting a highest-price record for a particular work, but in the differentiation of demand by type of work. Modern masters, Korean abstraction, global contemporary art, and antique art each have different price-forming logics and collector bases. The May major auctions at Seoul Auction and K Auction offer a point of comparison for examining how much transaction potential these different market layers currently possess, and where bidding is most concentrated.
 
 

Auction Information
 
K Auction

Date & Time: May 27, 2026, 4 p.m.
Venue: K Auction Headquarters, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Works Offered: 83 works
Total Value: Approximately KRW 10.4 billion (about USD 6.84 million)
Website: k-auction.com
 
 
Seoul Auction

Date & Time: May 28, 2026, 4 p.m.
Venue: Seoul Auction Gangnam Center
Works Offered: 145 works
Total Value: Approximately KRW 10.3 billion based on the low estimate (about USD 6.77 million)
Website: seoulauction.com