Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea
- Special Exhibition
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall
About The Exhibition
Organized in partnership with the National Museum of Korea, this landmark international exhibition, Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea, 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, the Knife Sheath from the 1100s (Apollo’s Acquisition of the Year Award 2022), and the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva from the 1300s—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 a dispersed set of 10 hanging scrolls from the 1300s depicting the 10 Kings of Hell. Brought together for the first time since the 1960s, the scrolls offer a rare opportunity to experience the set’s panoramic sequence of judgment, atonement, and salvation.
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.
Anicka Yi’s Bending Willow Branches (2025) makes a strong opening statement: that death adds to life’s continuum—mutating, persisting, and transforming rather than ending it. Park Chan-kyong’s Belated Bosal (2019) serves as a visually and psychologically immersive centerpiece, prompting viewers to confront human-induced environmental catastrophes and their far-reaching karmic consequences. The circuit further widens with The Third King of Hell Afterimage (2025) by 2025 MacArthur Fellow Gala Porras-Kim, created specifically for this show as a critical inquiry into the afterlives of objects within Western collecting practices.
Additionally, the exhibition incorporates innovative digital experiences that deepen engagement with the artworks and themes. Visitors have the opportunity to interact with the 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.” Complementing these visual experiences are carefully designed audio and video installations, from the meditative resonance of a Buddhist temple bell to the evocative projection of contemporary works.
Featuring more than one hundred works drawn from leading public and private collections in Korea, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea is accompanied by a substantial, richly illustrated catalogue, anchored in the contributing scholars’ shared commitment to transregional and interdisciplinary investigation.
Featured Art
Sponsors
Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and 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 the Joseph M. and Bonnie N. S. Gardewin Endowment for Korean Art Exhibitions and Ms. Judith Gerson.
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, Richard and Dian Disantis, 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, 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, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, the Pickering Foundation, 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 and 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.