bonte museum's inaugural special exhibition in 2013 was ‘Buddha's Compassionate Heart: Wooden Buddhist Child Statues of the Late Joseon Dynasty.’ The exhibition brought together wooden child statues collected from temples across the country to showcase the charm of Korean anthropomorphic sculpture.

 Though the wooden child statues may seem insignificant or be placed in a humble position, easily overlooked, their innocent and unadorned appearance, seemingly reflecting one's true self, evokes a sense of endearment. Furthermore, it is believed that entrusting oneself to these wooden child statues brings peace and comfort to the heart. We invite you to come and appreciate the wooden child statues, which embody a compassionate nature within the solemn and majestic realm of Buddhism that our ancestors have long embraced and revered.

Yayoi Kusama’s very first solo exhibition in Jeju took place at bonte museum in 2014. We invite you to bonte museum to fully appreciate Yayoi Kusama's world, where objects and spaces are densely adorned, featuring obsessive repetition and infinite spaces. Through Kusama Yayoi's installations, paintings, and video works that transcend the boundaries of reality with limitless imagination and creative energy, we hope you will experience the infinite inspiration and power.

As the second special exhibition of 2017, we are opening ‹Chinjesulchan›, an opportunity to encounter our fading traditional Confucian funeral culture. For a long time, people have believed that death is not the complete end of a person, but that the spirit is immortal. Based on Confucian thought, even during the Joseon Dynasty, death was considered a transition from this world to the next. During the Joseon Dynasty, various rituals were performed to comfort the deceased on their journey to another world and to safely guide them on their way. The next step involved rituals to escort the deceased, who had departed to another world—namely, ancestral rites—and to attend to their spirit. The four-step Gwanhonsangje, which people experience throughout their lives, has carried over into modern society, with its procedures and forms evolving, yet it still firmly grounds itself in our cultural foundation. We hope that ‹Chinjesulchan› will provide an opportunity to engage with our often-overlooked traditional Confucian funeral culture.

In May 2019, coinciding with the month of the waxing moon, we are hosting the exhibition ⟨Jeju... Meeting the Woman Diver⟩, by Eva Armisén, an artist who paints happiness and cherishes Jeju. Eva Armisén captures the essence of simple, ordinary life with her unique color palette and gentle brushstrokes, creating works that bring peace of mind.
 In particular, Eva Armisén has shown a keen interest in the women divers of Jeju, even including illustrations of them in her fairy tale book, and has supported the inscription of Jeju's Haenyeo on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list. In ⟨Jeju... Meeting the Woman Diver⟩, you can visually experience the artist's affection for Jeju through the short film 'My Mom is a Woman Diver.' We invite you to discover the small yet delightful happiness hidden in our ordinary lives through Eva Armisén's works, filled with love, happiness, and affection for Jeju.

Yayoi Kusama, one of the most celebrated artists of our time, was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. After studying traditional Japanese painting at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, she emerged as a leading figure in Japan's postwar avant-garde art scene. In 1957, she moved to the United States, where she presented large-scale paintings, soft sculptures using fabric, and installations featuring furniture and lights, while also participating in happenings and fashion shows like body painting and festivals. Kusama has engaged in various artistic movements, including Minimalism, Pop Art, Zero Group, and Nul Group, transcending the boundaries of contemporary art. Her works are characterized by the repetition, multiplication, and expansion of specific patterns or elements. This exhibition, ⟨Seeking the Soul⟩, features four pieces, including installations, sculptures, and paintings. As art became her therapy, viewers are invited to discover the enchantment of her eternal artistic world through this exhibition.