BTS RM to hold first collaborative exhibition with SFMOMA featuring 180 pieces including 10 years of collectibles

BTS member RM is revealing his personal art collection, which he has been gathering for about 10 years, for the first time at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in the United States. SFMOMA will hold a special exhibition titled ″RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me″ from October 3 to February 7, 2027. This exhibition is the first time RM’s personal collection is showcased in a museum and marks SFMOMA’s first collaboration with a K-pop artist since its establishment. Approximately 140 pieces from RM’s collection, combined with SFMOMA’s holdings, will bring together a total of around 180 works. Many of the pieces collected by RM will be exhibited in the United States for the first time. The exhibition highlights universal themes such as nature, memory, and human existence across time and cultures through various media. It also offers a comprehensive view of the flow of Korean art from the 6th century to the present, including ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, and sculptures. Works by masters of modern and contemporary Korean art such as Yun Hyong-keun, Park Rae-hyun, Jang Uk-jin, Kwon Ok-yeon, Kim Yoon-shin, and Do Sang-bong will be displayed alongside SFMOMA’s collection, which includes pieces by Kim Whanki, Nam June Paik, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Henri Matisse, and Georgia O’Keeffe. RM actively participated not only in lending works but also in the overall planning and curation of the exhibition. He collaborated with SFMOMA co-curators America Castillo and Kim Hyo-eun from the selection of works to the conceptualization of the exhibition, and personally wrote the exhibition texts and artwork descriptions in both Korean and English. Additionally, he prepared bilingual audio guides recorded in his own voice and the music played throughout the exhibition space. Through his agency Big Hit Music, RM stated, ″This is the first time I am sharing my collection under my own name. I believe it is rare for a collection amassed over a long time to honestly reveal the person behind it. In that sense, this exhibition will be quite an extended self-introduction.″ He added, ″My collection includes many works by modern and contemporary Korean artists. Some names may still be unfamiliar outside Korea, but I have collected them with the hope of adding a better perspective and sensibility, and this process has led to this exhibition.″ SFMOMA introduced the exhibition on its official website, saying, ″RM of the world-renowned pop group BTS has been collecting works that move his heart for nearly a decade. Now, about 150 pieces from his personal collection will be brought together with SFMOMA’s holdings, showing unexpected connections that link different artists, ideas, and cultures.″ Christopher Bedford, director of SFMOMA, explained, ″This project closely aligns with SFMOMA’s direction to expand global conversations around art. It creates space for new voices in the museum while inviting visitors who have encountered contemporary and Korean art through RM to this place.″ The museum stated that this exhibition offers an opportunity to closely examine what inspires RM and why. Visitors can explore his personal thoughts and stories about the works through exhibition texts written by RM himself and audio guides narrated in his voice. RM said, ″I hope people feel how fun and enjoyable it is just to go see an exhibition through this opportunity.″