For years, RM has lived under the brightest lights in the world. At San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), however, the BTS leader steps away from that spotlight and invites visitors to meet another side of himself — Kim Namjoon, the art lover, collector and curious mind behind the global superstar.
According to Deadline, RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me opens on 3 October and runs until 7 February 2027. It marks RM’s debut as a museum co-curator and brings together 142 works from his personal collection with 36 works from SFMOMA. The exhibition features nearly 200 works by Korean and international artists, spanning paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, textiles and animation.
The artists include To Sangbong, Yun Hyong-keun, Mark Rothko, Chang Ucchin, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keeffe and Nam June Paik. Rather than following a strict timeline or presenting a straightforward history of Korean art, the exhibition puts artists from different periods and cultures into conversation with one another.
SFMOMA co-curator Hyoeun Kim said RM wanted variety rather than a single artistic style or medium. His collection moves from painting and sculpture to furniture, ceramics, fabric and animation.
The exhibition reflects a relationship with art that RM has built over years. He first became deeply engaged with art during a 2018 visit to the Art Institute of Chicago while BTS were on tour. His interest later extended beyond collecting. In 2020, he donated about $80,000 to the Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Foundation to support the production and distribution of Korean art books for public and school libraries.
RM also narrated an audio guide for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art in 2022. In June this year, the National Museum of Korea appointed him its first Global Public Relations Ambassador to help promote Korean cultural heritage in Korea and abroad.
Yet Between You and Me does not feel like a celebrity trying to add an art exhibition to his résumé. Instead, it offers a glimpse into how RM sees the world.
During his opening remarks, he joked about whether collecting so much art had made him “a boring, rich snore”. He also spoke about feeling as though he is constantly drifting, whether in Seoul or the US. That feeling, he said, has made him lean heavily on art.
The exhibition is divided into eight sections: Bluewater, Friendscape, Home, Photobuddha!, People, Passion, I Don’t Know, But I Like It and Umber. Each explores a different aspect of RM’s relationship with art, memory and everyday life.
Among them, I Don’t Know, But I Like It feels particularly personal. The gallery has deep galaxy-blue walls, rock formations and a brightly lit model of a modern home filled with boulders. It also features Doraemon, abstract works, distorted faces, pixelated imagery and childlike drawings by Cy Twombly.
The section’s title comes from RM’s inability to explain every reason behind his artistic choices. Rather than forcing an explanation, he created a room around the works he simply likes.
That idea also explains one of the exhibition’s most unexpected pieces: Pikachu.
RM is known for his love of Pokémon, but the small animation celluloid of the yellow character carries a deeper meaning here. RM sees the normally energetic Pikachu as strangely lonely when frozen as a single image.
“This Pikachu looks a little lonely,” RM wrote on the museum marker. He noted that Pikachu is usually running, throwing thunderbolts and moving through the story. As a cell, however, it has no background, no next scene and no voice. “Even Pikachu needs a break,” he wrote.
The observation mirrors RM’s own relationship with fame. His life rarely allows him to stand still. The exhibition offers him a rare pause while BTS continue their current 11-month tour, with the group due to begin its Latin American leg soon.
RM has described himself as “a very, very confused person”. But the exhibition suggests something closer to curiosity. Its works do not follow one obvious style. A string of lights by Felix Gonzalez-Torres can sit alongside a ceramic vase by Yoshitomo Nara. The point is not to make the works fit together neatly, but to allow visitors to make their own connections.
“My only hope is that this exhibition can be a small but sturdy bridge for many,” RM said.
That bridge already extends beyond the museum. BTS fans, known as ARMY, turned up even for the media and donor preview. They handed out handmade gift bags filled with stickers, bracelets, postcards, treats and a fanzine, along with references familiar to longtime fans.
One playful bookmark titled “The Art of Namjooing” defines the term as “the act of living as Kim Namjoon”. It lists some of his favourite ways to spend his time, including walking through parks, admiring nature, spending time with crabs and having fun with friends.
That sense of ease is central to Between You and Me. The exhibition acknowledges the enormous scale of RM’s fame without making that fame its subject. Instead, it asks visitors to look at art from Korea and around the world and decide what speaks to them.
For much of his career, RM has created music, performances and images for millions of people to consume. Here, he offers something more personal: the works that made him stop, look and think.
He describes himself as someone who lives “somewhere in between” — between Seoul and San Francisco, between the stage and the space beneath it, and between the viewer and the painting.
“It’s OK to walk slowly,” RM wrote on an exhibition wall. “Pause wherever your heart comes to rest, catch your breath, and I hope you will take a moment to smell the flowers.”
Perhaps that is what makes the exhibition feel most like RM. He does not claim to have an answer for everything he likes. He simply remains curious enough to stop and look.
“In an age where everything is consumed so fast, I believe some of the attitudes of some of the past artists can resonate even more deeply today,” he said.
