BTS's RM Opens His First Art Exhibition at SFMOMA With 140 Personal Works

BTS's RM is stepping into a new role this October, and it's one that fans who've followed his years of gallery visits and art collecting have been quietly waiting for. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art confirmed that RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me opens on October 3 and runs through February 7, 2027, marking the first time RM has publicly shared his personal collection under his own name.

In a statement released through Big Hit Music, RM framed the exhibition as something unusually candid. "This is the first time I'm sharing my collection under my own name," he said. "I think few things reveal a person as honestly as a collection built over a long time. In that sense, this exhibition will be something like a very long introduction to myself." He also noted that many of the works come from Korean modern and contemporary artists whose names remain relatively unfamiliar outside Korea, and that part of his intention in collecting them was to contribute a broader perspective on their significance.

What's in the show

Around 180 works total have been selected for the exhibition. Roughly 140 of them come from RM's personal collection, and SFMOMA notes that the vast majority are making their U.S. debut here. The lineup brings together Korean modern masters like Yun Hyong-keun, Park Rae-hyun, Chang Ucchin, Kwon Ok-yeon, Kim Yun-shin, and Do Sang-bong alongside works from SFMOMA's own holdings: Kim Whanki, Nam June Paik, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Henri Matisse, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Ceramics, calligraphy, painting, and sculpture trace Korean art from the 6th century to the present. SFMOMA has described it as one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of Korean modern and contemporary art ever held in the United States.

RM was involved well beyond lending works. He co-curated the show alongside SFMOMA curators America Castillo and Kim Hyo-eun, selecting pieces and developing the overall concept together. He also wrote bilingual exhibition texts and artwork descriptions in both Korean and English, recorded a two-language audio guide in his own voice, and chose the music playing throughout the galleries. The depth of that involvement signals something more than a celebrity collaboration; the museum came to RM first, having watched his sustained engagement with contemporary art over several years.

SFMOMA's reasoning

Director Christopher Bedford explained the museum's thinking in straightforward terms: "This initiative closely aligns with SFMOMA's direction to expand the global conversation around art. We're creating space for a new voice in the museum, while also inviting audiences who first encountered contemporary and Korean art through RM." It's the first collaboration of this kind in SFMOMA's history with a K-pop artist, and the curatorial framing suggests the museum sees it as a genuine art-world event rather than a cross-promotional exercise.

The works are arranged to draw out universal themes, placing pieces from different eras and cultural contexts alongside each other to explore how artists across centuries have approached nature, memory, and human existence. For ARMY members who've watched RM document museum trips across the world for years, seeing that private obsession take shape as a major institutional show feels like a very natural next step.