Late Samsung chairman's art collection to go on global display

Major exhibitions overseas will showcase Lee Kun-hee's cultural legacy

20240122 Lee Kun-hee

Lee Kun-hee, center, the former Samsung Group chairman, in 2010. The family donated his vast art collection to the South Korean nation after his death in 2020 following a long illness. (Photo courtesy of Samsung)

KOTARO HOSOKAWA, Nikkei staff writer

SEOUL -- When he died after a long illness in October 2020, Lee Kun-hee, the former chairman of South Korea's Samsung Electronics, left a global electronics powerhouse and a colossal personal collection of artworks among the vast assets he amassed that were estimated to be worth some 26 trillion won ($20 billion).

While transforming Samsung from a regional consumer electronics company to a global leader in smartphones, memory chips and other technology products, the South Korean business tycoon collected a monumental trove of fine art that is now generating a fresh wave of interest.

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