Korea's four National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art branches and regional museums each play a different role, and knowing the difference changes how you read the same collection.
Public museums are the most reliable starting point for tracing the arc of Korean art in one place. The four branches of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul, Gwacheon, Cheongju, and Deoksugung share a name but play entirely different roles, while city and provincial museums in Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu, and elsewhere bring you far closer to their own region's artists and history. This list spreads across regions on purpose, rather than clustering around the capital.
Even permanent collections rotate fairly often, so it's more useful to read what question the current show is organizing its works around than to chase famous names. Check special-exhibition bookings, admission, evening hours, and closures around exhibition changeovers on each museum's official site before you go, and pay attention to how each branch's role differs from the others as you visit.
