Hong Gyu Shin, now a New York-based gallery owner, became the first named Korean to purchase a Van Gogh when he acquired Head of a Peasant (January-March 1885) at Sotheby’s in May 2024. Shin paid $787,000 for the work—a bargain, since the estimate was £1.5m-$2.5m.
Van Gogh’s Head of a Peasant (January-March 1885)
Hong Gyu Shin and Shin Gallery
Head of a Peasant has just gone on display in an exhibition of Shin’s collection in the city of Daejeon (south of Seoul), in the newly opened KAIST Museum (KAM). It is on the campus of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Despite the astonishing growth of interest in Van Gogh in Korea in recent years, none of his paintings are owned by the country’s museums. Shin’s loan marks the first time a Van Gogh has ever been exhibited on loan from a Korean collector.
Shin with Van Gogh’s Head of a Peasant in his New York apartment, hanging beside some of his eclectic collection—with paintings by Sam Francis and Balthus and a sculpture by Marisol Escobar
Shin Gallery
Entitled The Vault of Masterpieces (until 30 August), his show comprises 49 works, with the Van Gogh as the centrepiece. Unlike a conventional exhibition, Shin has recreated part of his apartment and storage room in the show, offering “a more personal glimpse into how I live with and care for the works”. Although a dealer, he says the Van Gogh is part of his “personal collection, rather than gallery stock”.
The recreation of the living room of Shin’s New York apartment in the KAIST exhibition The Vault of Masterpieces
KAIST Museum, Daejeon (photograph Ji Ho Jun)
Head of a Peasant is a profile of a woman from Nuenen, the village where Vincent’s parents lived. In the first half of 1885 he made more than 30 paintings of women, most of which have a dark background, although in this example the sitter is shown against blue-green.
Many works from this time depict Gordina de Groot, who is probably the sitter in Shin’s picture. It was said in the village that Gordina was pregnant with Van Gogh’s child, although this was probably malicious gossip.
An unusual view of the reverse of the framed Head of a Peasant, with labels of exhibition venues and the art trade
Hong Gyu Shin and Shin Gallery
Shin’s career
Born in 1990 in the Korean city of Ulsan, Shin moved to New York to study at the age of 16. At 23, he set up his eponymously named gallery, dealing in 20th-century and contemporary art by both Korean and international artists.
As for his discovery of Van Gogh, he says that his interest began as a teenager: “Vincent’s emotional intensity and perseverance resonated deeply with me.” What began as admiration soon “evolved into a more profound connection through study, travel and eventually collecting”.
After the KAIST show closes, Shin is to lend Head of a Peasant, with other works from his collection, to the Ulsan Art Museum (20 November-22 February 2026), in the city of his birth.
Meanwhile, Korea now also has an important Van Gogh exhibition: a travelling show with over 70 works from the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, in the east of the Netherlands. Van Gogh: The Great Passion recently closed in Seoul and is now at the Daejeon Museum of Art (until 22 June 2025)—in the same city where Shin is exhibiting his Head of a Peasant.
In recent years the Republic of Korea has become one of the countries where Van Gogh’s popularity has soared dramatically, evidence of the Dutch artist’s truly global appeal.
Other Van Gogh news:
Conservator Madeleine Bisschoff examining Van Gogh’s Terrace of a Café at Night (September 1888)
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo
The Kröller-Müller Museum’s Terrace of a Café at Night (September 1888) was recently in the conservation studio for checks on its condition and minor consolidations of the paint. This was to ensure that the picture is safe to travel for an exhibition in Japan, which will open at the Kobe City Museum (20 September-1 February 2026). The Grand Van Gogh Exhibition will then tour to the Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art (21 February 2026-10 May 2026) and Tokyo’s Ueno Royal Museum (29 May 2026-August 12 2026).
Martin Bailey is a leading Van Gogh specialist and special correspondent for The Art Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions at the Barbican Art Gallery, Compton Verney/National Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.
Martin Bailey’s recent Van Gogh books
Martin has written a number of bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are also now available in a more compact paperback format.
His other recent books include Living with Vincent van Gogh: The Homes & Landscapes that shaped the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which provides an overview of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Friend Van Gogh/Emile Bernard provides the first English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).
To contact Martin Bailey, please email vangogh@theartnewspaper.com
Please note that he does not undertake authentications.
Explore all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh here
