Songwon Gallery opened in Kwanhoon-dong in Seoul in 1977 and assumed the role of establishing and developing the art maket in Korea. In the short history of Korean art galleries, the Songwon Gallery both opened up the art market and enhanced Korea’s art culture. The gallery came to public notice with it opened the first exhibition of artists responsible for the development of the Korean painting throughout the course of modern and contempment Korean art.

The gallery exhibited the paintings of Oriental art masters Byun Kwan-Shik, Lee Sang-Bum. It also exhibited the paintings of Western art masters Lee Chung-Sup, Bark Soo-Keun, Kim Whan-Ki, Jang Uk-Jin. The gallery promoted both Oriental and Western art in Korea and planned exhibitions of Korean painters(Han Man-Young, Kim Tae-Ho, Jee Suck-Chul, Lee Doo-Shik). It also made a continuous effort as a commercial gallery, to develop art culture in Korea. And The gallery participated in ’96 FIAC, the international art market.

In 1996, the gallery moved to its new building and renamed itself the Rho Gallery. Its first exhibition was “Twentieth Century Korean People Through the Arts.” In 1997, The gallery exhibited White ceramic or Baek-Ja. It showed the essence of Korean traditional beauty, and presented the power of Korean contemporary art through exhibitions of Lee Gang-So, Yun Hyung-Keun.