Fans get to know BTS’s RM through SFMOMA exhibit — in pictures

BTS leader RM described his first curated museum exhibition as “a pretty long introduction of myself,” speaking at the opening of a show built around his personal art collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

“RM X SFMOMA: Between You and Me,” opening to the public on Saturday and running through Feb. 7 next year, is the first museum presentation of RM’s personal collection of art. About 180 works chosen by RM and the museum are on view, including pieces by Korean modern and contemporary artists such as Kim Whan-ki, Yun Hyong-keun, Park Re-hyun and Chang Ucchin.

RM took part in the show’s overall planning and curation, selecting works and developing its concept with SFMOMA co-curators America Castillo and Kim Hyo-eun. He also wrote the exhibition texts and artwork descriptions in Korean and English, recorded audio guides in both languages and picked the music played in the galleries.

RM received the museum’s proposal for an exhibition two years ago while serving in the military and began the project “with an innocent heart,” he said. He did not know that innocence “would eventually make me write, erase, rewrite hundreds of labels.”

He said two questions guided his selections: “Does it move me really?” and whether, “right now in 2026,” an artist and a work “still have something to tell us.”

“Over the past century, Korea went through colonization, war and an incredibly fast development,” RM said during the opening reception held Tuesday in San Francisco. “A lot disappeared during that time, but at the same time, some remarkable and shiny things were also created.”

RM, who has no formal training in art history, presented his outsider status as an advantage.

“In any field, sometimes an outsider can bring in a new breeze,” he said. “I hope people could get to know me [through this show] because I feel like this is pretty much myself, and I hope the people just could figure out, like, how much it’s fun and joyful to go see an exhibition.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]