Frieze Seoul 2026: Record Gallery Count, Missing Veterans, and Sales That Defied the Headwinds
Frieze Seoul returned to the Coex convention centre in the city's Gangnam district for its fifth edition in September 2026, bringing a record 133 galleries through Saturday's close — even as two of the fair's most prominent regulars, Perrotin and Massimo De Carlo, stayed home.
Their absence stirred debate. The Korea Economic Daily argued in a July 2026 report that the departures signalled Frieze's waning appeal in Seoul. Massimo De Carlo, for its part, did not vanish entirely: the gallery held a pop-up with abstract painter Hejum Bä in Seoul's Seochon neighbourhood during fair week. Artnet News
The macro backdrop was unsteady. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or KOSPI, had doubled over the past year but sat nearly 25 percent below its mid-June peak, whipsawed by surging semiconductor exports and a weak Korean won. In early March 2026, the same index had rebounded 10 percent in a single day after a record 12 percent plunge tied to Iran-driven energy shocks. Reuters
A weak won cuts both ways. Lucida Kyungmin Lee, director of art market research at the art-information platform Meetingroom, told Artnet News that Korean collectors are now more likely to look abroad or buy from overseas galleries for high-priced works, because those purchases are made in US dollars — meaning a soft won makes locally priced art relatively cheaper for foreign buyers but pushes up the cost of imports.
South Korea also offers a tax incentive that has helped the fair since its 2022 launch: artworks valued under 60 million won (roughly US$44,000) are exempt from capital gains tax. Reuters
Despite the uncertainty, dealers reported stronger-than-expected sales. Thaddaeus Ropac sold Adrian Ghenie's painting 'Figure with Funerary Stele' for €1.1 million (about US$1.28 million) on opening day. The gallery also moved an Antony Gormley cast-iron sculpture for £750,000 (US$1 million), David Salle's 'Blue Trunks' (2025) for US$220,000, and an Alex Katz study for US$150,000. New paintings by Korean artist Heemin Chung found buyers between US$24,000 and US$33,000.
Kukje Gallery, a Seoul fixture, sold a 1971 abstraction by Yoo Youngkuk for between 2.2 billion and 2.5 billion KRW (US$1.62 million–US$1.84 million) to a board member of a North American museum. Pace Gallery, meanwhile, priced a Yoo Youngkuk painting at 1.5 billion KRW (US$1.1 million). Kukje also sold works by Dansaekhwa artists — the Korean monochrome painting movement that gained international recognition in the 2010s — Ha Chong-Hyun and Park Seo-Bo for more than US$300,000 apiece. Across Frieze Seoul and Kiaf, the rival Korean fair that runs concurrently, Kukje moved 15 works in total, including one by Jenny Holzer for more than US$400,000. Artnet News
Beyond the booths, the fair spilled into the city. Artist Ryan Gander minted 16,000 coins and deposited them around Seoul neighbourhoods for a public project. Paula Cooper Gallery staged a group show at Frieze House Seoul featuring Meg Webster, Terry Adkins and Sol LeWitt.
The fair's celebrity turnout brought actors Han So-hee and Jung Il-woo, The8 of the boy band Seventeen, and Annie of Allday Project through the doors — a reminder that in Seoul, art fairs are as much cultural events as commercial ones.
Frieze Seoul has grown steadily since its 2022 inaugural edition, where Hauser & Wirth sold a US$1.8 million Mark Bradford on opening day. The 2023 sophomore edition expanded from 110 to 121 exhibitors but saw slower sales. By 2025, Asian galleries accounted for 64 percent of participants, up from 48 percent the year before. This year's 133-gallery count sets another high-water mark. Artnet News
What the numbers cannot settle is whether the fair's appeal is cresting or merely recalibrating. Perrotin and De Carlo's exits gave critics an argument. The sales reports gave dealers a counterargument. The Korean won, the KOSPI and the global art market's larger slowdown will have the final word — and none of them is finished talking.
