The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) is a contemporary art museum with the main museum in Gwacheon and three branches each in Deoksugung, Seoul and Cheongju. The museum was first established in 1969 as the only national art museum in the country accommodating modern and contemporary art of Korea and international art of different time periods.

The collections of the main museum in Gwacheon includes around 7,000 artworks including works of contemporary Korean artists such as Go Hui-dong, Ku Bon-ung, Park Su-geun, and Kim Whan-ki. The museum has also gathered a substantial internationally recognized collection including artworks by Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Marcus Lüpertz, Nam June Paik, Nikki de Saint-Phalle, Jonathan Borofsky, and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Past exhibitions include the installation of Sinseon Play – Moon Ji Bang as a part of the Young Architects Program at MoMA and MoMA PS1 in 2014. In 2011, the MMCA hosted the exhibition The American Art, which was “the first occasion to exhibit the Collection of Whitney Museum, in Asia,” featuring artists such as Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns. Likewise in 2010, the museum hosted the exhibition Picasso and Modern Art, which was the first exhibition of collections from the Albertina Museum (Vienna, Austria) in an East Asian country. In addition to loan exhibitions, the MMCA has mounted special exhibitions of Korean art, such as Acquisitions in Korean Art 1960-1980, and Masterpieces of Korean Modern Art: Exploration of Modern History in 2008.

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White Cube achieved national and international recognition by being one of the first galleries to represent the Young British Artists (YBA). Today, the gallery has an utterly impressive range of artists in its portfolio. Think of artists such as Damien Hirst, Ellen Altfest, Michael Armitage, Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer, Chuck Close, Tracey Emin, Gilbert & George, Andreas Gursky, Imi Knoebel, Julie Mehretu, Bruce Nauman, Danh Vō or Jeff Wall.

White Cube covers over 10.000 square meters and is one of today’s most influential art galleries, resulting in the fifth spot in this article. However, I also want to state that White Cube, Lisson Gallery, and Thaddaeus Ropac are this close to our ranking. We could almost say the trio shares this fifth place with an ex-aequo.

The aesthetic was introduced in the early twentieth century in response to the increasing abstraction of modern art. With an emphasis on colour and light, artists from groups like De Stijl and the Bauhaus preferred to exhibit their works against white walls in order to minimise distraction. The white walls were also thought to act as a frame, rather like the borders of a photograph. A parallel evolution in architecture and design provided the right environment for the art.

In 1976 Brian O’Doherty wrote a series of essays for Artforum magazine, later turned into a book called Inside the White Cube, in which he confronted the modernist obsession with the white cube arguing that every object became almost sacred inside it, making the reading of art problematic.

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The opening of the cultural landmark also spurred a debate amongst the art world, with many scholars calling for museums throughout Europe to return thousands of artifacts looted from Africa during the colonial period.

A little over half a century ago, Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of post-independence Senegal, announced his plans to build a major museum of African culture in the country’s capital of Dakar. Senghor, who died in 2001, did not live to see his dream fulfilled. Now, at long last, his vision is coming to fruition. As Kate Brown reports for artnet News, Senegal has opened a sprawling museum that celebrates black civilizations from across the globe—and experts are hailing the institution as an important step forward in the effort to reclaim African artifacts plundered during the colonial period.

The Museum of Black Civilizations, known in French as the Musée des Civilisations noires (MCN), is a 150,000-square-foot, circular structure, modelled after the traditional houses of Senegal’s Casamance region, according to Al Jazeera’s Amandla Thomas-Johnson. China was the main backer of the project, providing a $34 million funding boost, according to BBC. The country has invested billions of dollars into the continent—“China has long had an appetite for Africa’s abundant natural resources,” notes Yolaan Begbie of Africa.com—but the museum says its operations will be independent.

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The 4,000-piece collection encompasses works from 1945 to today from an array of styles including eclectic European Nouveau, global Realism, and American Art Pop. The institution’s main principle is not to simply put things out for show, but educate the masses about each work and its impact on society.

What makes the Louisiana so unique however is not only its world-class art collection, but the unassuming setting in which the works are presented. An 1870s villa, surrounded by three modernist pavilions, is connected by glass-walled passages set amidst a sprawling sculpture park at the edge of the Øresund, called the Sound in English; a strait which looks out to southern Sweden. It is precisely this combination of architecture and natural setting that strikes the eye on the first visit. In the mid-50s, when the museum’s founder Knud W. Jensen asked the architects Jørgen Bo and Wilhelm Wohlert to build a museum based on the old villa, their foundational plan was to link the building with its sea surroundings. For this reason, it is such a memorable gallery, blending indoor and outdoor together so seamlessly, providing an all-encompassing scenic experience for regulars and tourists alike.

Louisiana has visual references to traditional Japanese architecture, which the architects succeeded in

transmitting elegantly into the Danish setting.

The two architects took their inspiration from both sides of the North Pacific Ocean. Wohlert had studied at the University of California at Berkeley, where he became intimately familiar with the famed wooden houses surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, Louisiana has clear visual references to the traditional simplicity of Japanese architecture, which the pair succeeded in transmitting elegantly into the Danish setting. Characterized by long whitewashed walls, exposed structures, laminated wooden ceilings, deep-red tiled floors, and large glass panels, each element contributes to the museum’s unique architectural lightness.

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Its holdings consist of nearly 11,000 artworks and objects collected from all across the world, including the most important collection of European art in the southern hemisphere.

There is also temporary exhibitions, which present various topics or supports. As national and international exhibitions of contemporary art, photography, design and architecture to take turns during the year, bringing to the public a universe of images. The visitor will always find something new when visiting the site.

People with special needs can also visit the MASP, because the building has accessible entrance, four adapted restrooms and elevators. Art works are exhibited in proper height and there are signs for the visually impaired.

Another point that attracts visitors is the architecture, with design Lina Bo Bardi, a modernist building that delights in having differently from conventional buildings. In construction, it is unique in the world with the main body resting on four side pillars, forming a span of 74 meters long. The span of MASP, as is known, was the scene of various events and on Sundays receives an antiques fair.

The inauguration took place in 1968 and 1982, the MASP was listed by Condephaat – Council of Historical Heritage Protection, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist of the State and in 2003 by IPHAN – Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage.

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The star of the museum is Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, a powerful oil painting depicting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Reina Sofia’s other signature exhibition of includes the works of Salvador Dalí.

Founded in 1992, the Reina Sofía covers the periods that are not examined in the Prado Museum. The earliest work of art is from 1881, the same year Pablo Picasso was born.

The building where the museum is currently housed was previously used as a hospital, Hospital de San Carlos, constructed at the end of the 18th century.

Collection

The Reina Sofía features a large collection of paintings by renowned twentieth-century Spanish artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró. The museum’s most famous composition is Picasso’s “Guernica”, one of the most effective anti-war paintings in the world, although a large number of his works can be found in the Picasso museum in Malaga.

The art fans will need several hours to explore the Reina Sofía, due to its sheer size. If you are less enthusiastic about art, it will take you approximately between one and two hours to see the most renowned paintings and sculptures.

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