DDP at night, window lights glowing across its curved aluminium panel facade

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Wayne Thiebaud's Cakes and Pies at DDP Dongdaemun, Until Feb. 21

Published Oct 21, 2026

Why NOW picked itEasy to slot in before or after Dongdaemun shopping or a night walk. The NOL page says no on-site sales, so book ahead.

Layered cakes, pies in a display case, a gumball machine: the food Wayne Thiebaud painted all his life has landed at Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Korea's first full retrospective of the American painter runs until Feb. 21, 2027, daily until 8 p.m.

105 works, and not only cakes

"Wayne Thiebaud: The Order of Things" gathers 105 works across about seven decades, the first full-scale Thiebaud retrospective in Korea.

He is known for cakes, deli counters and gumball machines, but portraits, cityscapes and beach scenes hang here too. Dieter Buchhart and Anna Karina Hofbauer curated.

From gestural canvases to a 100-year-old clown

The early work shows the gestural influence of Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 50s, as in "Cigar Counter" (1955). "Salads, Sandwiches, and Desserts" (1962) is on loan from the Sheldon Museum of Art.

The last wall holds "One-Hundred-Year-Old Clown" (2020), painted a year before he died. Thiebaud once said: "I started painting these triangles and turning them into pies."

DDP's silver panels sweeping in a curve beneath a deep blue night sky

Funny, lonely, lined up

"Order is his medium, difference is his subject," says Hofbauer. Cakes are lined up like a row of people, yet each one differs.

Korea JoongAng Daily reports that he called his figures "lonely togetherness."

Book on NOL, open until 8 p.m. daily

Open daily 10 a.m.–8 p.m., with last entry at 7 p.m. Adults 23,000 won, youth 18,000 won, children 15,000 won; the listing shows 20% off for Hyundai Card holders.

The NOL Ticket page says advance online booking only, with no on-site purchase. Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Lines 2, 4, 5) Exit 1 puts you right at DDP.

DDP's curved roof and plaza under a clear sky, with tour buses on the road

Sources & context

2026-10-21T04:25:24.745Z

NOL Ticket booking page ↗The Korea Herald ↗Korea JoongAng Daily ↗Seoul Metropolitan Government Media Hub ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗Wikimedia Commons ↗

Photo credit

lumoplank (Wikimedia Commons) · CC0

Dongdaemun Design Plaza lit up at night (taken before October 2024; not a photo of the exhibition). lumoplank / CC0.

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