Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Goryeo Dynasty Survey 'Ten Kings of Hell'

A landmark international survey of sacred art from Korea's Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) has opened at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Titled "Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea," the exhibition examines how Goryeo artists visualized death and the afterlife, organized in partnership with the National Museum of Korea. Among the works on view are a Korean national treasure and several recent CMA acquisitions: the Fourth King of Hell, dating to the late 1300s; the Knife Sheath from the 1100s, which received the Apollo Acquisition of the Year Award in 2022; and a Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva from the 1300s. The presentation also features a newly rediscovered Goryeo-period work. By assembling these objects, the museum positions medieval Korean Buddhist painting within a broader international context.