Lee Ufan receives the Wolfgang Hahn Prize at Museum Ludwig
The Korean artist's meditative Response paintings have earned him recognition from the Society for Modern Art, with a major exhibition opening this November.
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Lee Ufan, the Korean artist whose minimalist practice has quietly reshaped the vocabulary of contemporary painting, has been awarded the 32nd Wolfgang Hahn Prize by the Society for Modern Art at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. The accolade recognises a body of work built on deceptively simple gestures: a line drawn across canvas, pigment applied with deliberate restraint, the space between mark and surface as vital as the mark itself.
The artist’s Response paintings, conceived as conversations between viewer and work rather than declarations from artist to audience, form the heart of the prize recognition. Five of these meditative pieces will form an exhibition opening in November 2026 at the museum, where one of the works entering the Museum Ludwig’s permanent collection will be featured alongside them. The show runs until April 2027, accompanied by a newly commissioned publication that traces the conceptual threads running through his practice.
Ufan’s approach to painting emerged from his engagement with Zen Buddhist philosophy and his time at the centre of the Mono ha movement, yet his work transcends the movements that shaped it. Each Response painting operates as a moment of encounter, where the viewer’s gaze becomes as much part of the work as the artist’s hand. The prize signals the enduring resonance of this quieter aesthetic within contemporary culture, where simplicity demands the greatest attention and material restraint speaks with profound eloquence.
The exhibition opens 7 November 2026 at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and continues through 7 April 2027. For further details, visit Pace Gallery.
Imagery courtesy of Pace Gallery (@pacegallery).