Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea Opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art

CLEVELAND (October 6, 2026)—Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, a landmark international exhibition, explores the artistic legacy of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) in relation to their beliefs about death and the afterlife in Korea. Organized in partnership with the National Museum of Korea, the exhibition presents an exceptional array of important artworks, including Korea’s national treasure and the CMA’s recent acquisitions—the Fourth King of Hell from the late 1300s, the Knife Sheath from the 1100s (Apollo’s Acquisition of the Year Award 2022), and the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva from the 1300s, as well as a newly rediscovered Goryeo-period Water Moon Avalokiteśvara. Developed and curated by Dr. Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korean Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience the visual culture of the afterlife as it was imagined and understood in medieval Korea. 

The exhibition unfolds across three interlocking sections, each illuminating the soul’s passage from death through purgatory to the Buddhist paradise. At its dramatic center is the historic reunification of all 10 scrolls. This set of 10 awe-inspiring Ten Kings of Hell hanging scrolls, which are currently housed in six different museums around the world, is reunited in the exhibition for the first time since the 1960s. Of particular significance is the Third King, whose whereabouts remained unknown for more than 50 years. Its recent rediscovery in the Museum of Modern Art in Gunma, Japan, transformed this exhibition into a celebratory venue, prompting new scholarly understanding of the 10 Kings imagery tradition in Korea.  

Equally important was the discovery of a note concerning the set’s provenance alongside the Third King scroll. Containing a statement by the highly respected Japanese art historian Wakimoto Rakushiken (1883–1963), who served on various national committees of important cultural properties, this note reveals that the set had been preserved in a Buddhist temple in Nagoya, but was sold in the late 1800s when the temple faced financial hardship in the aftermath of the Meiji government’s anti-Buddhist policies. 

On view from Sunday, October 11, 2026, through Sunday, January 3, 2027, in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall, this ticketed exhibition features more than one hundred works drawn from leading public and private collections in Korea, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, including works from the CMA’s renowned Korean collection. The exhibition is closed on Tuesday, December 1, 2026, for a rotation of works. The Third King of Hell from Gunma is replaced by Gala Porras-Kim’s The Third King of Hell Afterimage (2025), and a set of Chinese Southern Song-period Ten Kings of Hell, on loan from the Nara National Museum, is installed.  

The exhibition delves into global and transregional aspects of artworks, ranging from ceramics and paintings to textiles that produced and consumed in Buddhist death rituals. Additional notable artworks include: 

• Anicka Yi’s Bending Willow Branches (2025)  
• Park Chan-kyong’s Belated Bosal (2019)  
• Do Ho Suh, Karma Juggler (2007) 
• The Third King of Hell Afterimage (2025) by 2025 MacArthur Fellow Gala Porras-Kim, created specifically for the exhibition  

Among its most compelling narratives, the exhibition examines how sociopolitical upheavals and environmental pressures shaped medieval Korea’s deep preoccupation with purgatorial afterlife—not only as a moral and devotional terrain but also as a response to broader natural forces, from climatic volatility during the Little Ice Age to the devastating reach of the Black Death. A select group of contemporary artworks is also included to underscore the enduring resonance of humanity’s existential concerns.  

“Beliefs in the afterlife are common across diverse cultural and spiritual traditions; many hold that death is not the end, but rather a continuation of existence in another form,” says Dr. Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korean Art. “While the exhibition offers an immersive journey into the Korean afterlife, it also invites visitors to consider humanity’s universal curiosity about what lies beyond death. By exploring death and the afterlife, I hope that this exhibition offers a compelling lens through which to consider enduring existential questions that connect medieval Korea with contemporary audiences in the US.”  

Additionally, the exhibition incorporates innovative digital experiences that deepen engagement with the artworks and themes. Visitors can interact with a Sutra Container in 3-D and to look closer into the artwork by exploring intricate details of select paintings on a large-scale “Zoom Wall.” These visual experiences are carefully designed to create a multisensory experience, from the meditative resonance of a Buddhist temple bell to the evocative projection of contemporary works.  

Catalogue 

Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea (coedited by Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korea Art and Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Japanese Art, Harvard University) is a substantial, richly illustrated catalogue, anchored in the contributing scholars’ shared commitment to transregional and interdisciplinary investigation. 

Ticketing 

Tickets for Ten Kings of Hell can be purchased in advance online. Visitors interested in viewing Ten Kings of Hell and Spectacular Freedom: Andrew Wyeth and the Modern American Watercolor together as a combo can save up to $9 off the combined ticket price. 

Tours 

“Ten Kings of Hell” Tours 

Weekly on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 1:30–2:30 p.m. from October 23, 2026, through December 20, 2026 
Ames Family Atrium 

Ticket Required 
Join us for a docent-guided tour of Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, which explores the artistic legacy of the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392), posing daring questions: How did medieval Koreans envision the world beyond death and how did works of art and materiality shape and reflect that imagined realm? 

Presenting an exceptional array of important artworks, including the CMA’s recent acquisitions—the Fourth King of Hell from the late 1300s, a Knife Sheath from the 1100s (Apollo’s Acquisition of the Year Award 2022), and the Standing Kṣitigarbha from the 1300s—the exhibition unfolds across three interlocking sections, each illuminating the soul’s passage from death through purgatory to the Buddhist paradise.  

To schedule private tours for adult groups of 10 or more, please contact grouptours@clevelandart.org or call 216-707-2752. 

Related Programming 

The Rise of the “Ten Kings of Hell” on the Silk Road Symposium 

Friday, November 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. 
Saturday, November 21, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 

Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center 

Free; Ticket Required 

In conjunction with the exhibition Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, the Cleveland Museum of Art is hosting a two-day international symposium, bringing together leading scholars to examine the origins, transmission, and transformation of the 10 Kings of Hell imagery along the Silk Road. 

The symposium takes as its point of departure the historic reunification of the Packard Set: 10 hanging scrolls from the late 14th century depicting the 10 Kings of Hell, brought together for the first time since the 1960s. It expands outward to address the broader transregional networks of artistic exchange that carried this powerful eschatological tradition from Tang-dynasty China through the Korean peninsula and Japan. 

Friday November 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.  

Keynote Speeches 

Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Japanese Art, Harvard University, USA 

Sooa Im McCormick, Korea Foundation Curator of Korean Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, USA  

Panel I 

“The Ten Kings of Hell Paintings from the Song, Yuan, and Goryeo Dynasties: Current Perspectives on Transmitted Buddhist Painting Research in Japan” 
Seinosuke Ide, Professor Emeritus of Art Studies at Kyushu University, Japan 

“Why the Ten Kings Matter: The Space-Time and Structure of Reincarnation in East Asia” 
Yamamoto Satomi, Professor, Waseda University, Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Japan 

“The Soul’s Journey: 4 x 7” 
Eunkyung Park, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Archaeology, and Art History, Dong-A University, Korea 

Discussant: Melissa McCormick, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University, USA 

Saturday November 21, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 

Panel II 

“The Significance of the Ten Kings Paintings from the Former Packard Set in the Evolution of Ten Kings Paintings in East Asia” 

Cheeyun Kwon, Professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Management and the School of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Korea 

“Encountering Hell: Visuality and Function in Niche 20, Dafowan, Mount Baoding, Dazu” 
Choonghyun Jo, Lecturer, Dankook University, Korea 

“The Last Train Stop Along the Silk Road: Transformations of the Ten Kings of Hell in Medieval Japan” 
Takagishi Akira, Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo, Japan 

“Study of the Early Joseon Ten Kings of Hell Painting Newly Acquired by the National Museum of Korea” 
Younghee Kim, Curator, National Museum of Korea 

Discussant: Seunghye Lee, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Archaeology, and Art History, Dong-A University, Korea 

Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the National Museum of Korea. This exhibition is made possible by this special relationship and a generous multiyear grant awarded through the museum’s Overseas Korean Galleries Support Program. 

Presented by 
Principal support is provided by Dr. Conrad C. and Patricia V. Simpfendorfer. Major support is provided by the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund. Additional support is provided by Gay-Young Cho and Chris Chiu, the Joseph M. and Bonnie N. S. Gardewin Endowment for Korean Art Exhibitions, Ms. Judith Gerson, and Goshen Foods. 

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Robert M. Kaye, Jane and Doug Kern, the late Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Mrs. Peta and the late Dr. Roland Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Mark and Paula Nylander, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Frank and Fran Porter, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage. 

Major support for the Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea exhibition catalogue is provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.  

Additional support is provided by the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies. 
The exhibition symposium is made possible with support from the Dunhuang Foundation. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art 

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 68,000 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the leading encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.  

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.