About us

Foundation Ideology

I was born into a poor family and could not study properly, so being poor and not having enough knowledge always bothered me. The hardships I suffered as a child and the lack of higher education like others always remain in my heart. I want to leave the last business of my life to my descendants. Through this project, we want to contribute to the promotion and development of Korean contemporary art and raise the status of Korean art in the world art scene.

From the memoir 「Smaller, Lower, Stronger」 by the late founder Lee Joon-young

Among various cultural projects, art was chosen because there are many people with great talent in the art field in Korea, but they are not recognized internationally due to the social conditions such as lack of economic support and understanding of art to fully demonstrate their talent. In addition, since suitable production rooms or exhibition spaces are not insufficiant for artists, supporting them would be very meaningful for the development of Korean culture.

From the statements commemorating the 100th anniversary of the late founder Lee Joon-young’s birth
The name “Youngeun” of the Museum was named after “Young”, the last letter of founder Lee Joon-young, and “Eun”, the last letter of Lee Sang-eun’s name.

Architecture

The total area of ​​the foundation site is about 264,074m2(79,882pyeong), which is used for art museums, studios and research buildings for the artists in residency.

The museum building has 3 exhibition rooms in total from the basement to the 3rd floor.

It consists of seminar rooms, reference rooms, lecture rooms, and flat-screen studios. Gyeongan river flows in front of the museum with a colony of pine nuts behind it. Outside, the lawn plaza consists of a sculpture park and an ecological park.

The beautiful natural forest naturally harmonizes with the outdoor sculpture exhibition hall as if holding the art gallery in one’s arms.