The Instagram post was simple–a 27 year old, sharing a photo of himself in jeans and a beanie, sitting with his legs crossed on the left side of the white bench outside of the National Gallery of Art’s West Building; the museum’s name etched in stone above him. The photo was one of two posts he shared that day from the National Gallery, featuring 16 photos anyone might post during their visit to the museum–sculptures, oil sketches, a few Monet pieces and a sunset on the Mall.
This wasn’t just anyone, though. This was Kim Nam-joon, known professionally as RM—the South Korean rapper, producer, and leader of BTS—sharing the photos to his 35.7 million followers on December 10, 2021.
Museums around the country have gotten an influx of interest thanks to RM, as Artnews reported Tuesday. He has become known as “one of Korea’s most influential young art collectors,” and wherever RM visits, fans follow. What about DC’s art destinations?
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The National Gallery of Art says it can’t directly attribute an increase in visitation, or a shift in visitor demographics, to RM’s posts, but the museum did see a big spike in social media engagement.
The NGA’s tweet resharing photos of RM’s visit received the highest engagement ever in the museum’s Twitter history—11.7 thousand retweets, 39.2 thousand likes, and 240 replies. Additionally, NGA says it gained 297 percent more followers on their channels than usual in the 24 hours after RM’s post.
When BTS meets the National Gallery.⭐
Thanks to RM from @bts_bighit for paying a visit to the museum and sharing some of his favorites, including paintings by Giorgio Morandi, Claude Monet, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, and more. pic.twitter.com/Xa0WIXVppA
— National Gallery of Art (@ngadc) December 11, 2021
They’ve also noticed an increase in visitors recreating RM’s photo on the bench, while others will share photos of the works RM shared– “Namjooning,” as it has become known.
I was able to see some of the works RM saw when he visited! Plus the Mound of #Butter @ngadc suggested! #BTS #BTSARMY https://t.co/ge80KIHa8Z pic.twitter.com/QlPkVhlZOp
— mads | kelly 💜 ⁷ ⟭⟬ ⟬⟭ ᴾʳᵒᵒᶠ (@kelly_mads) April 3, 2022
#Namjooning at @ngadc back in December ❄️#ARMYSelcaDay #ARSD #Namjoon pic.twitter.com/B6KbA5Ffsu
— TanTan⁷ ᴾʳᵒᵒᶠ 💜아포방포 (@Tan_Ms_Tan) May 2, 2022
Shoutout to the nice couple that I politely asked to move off this bench so I could quickly get this ARSD picture.. 😂💜🫰🏼#ARMYSelcaDay #ARSD #BTS #ARMY @BTS_twt @ngadc pic.twitter.com/Hy9N4BIXXV
— dena⁷ 🖤⛓🃏MORE! (@agustd_ena) May 2, 2022
Glenstone in Potomac also got to bask in the spotlight. RM visited the Potomac museum on the same day he toured the National Gallery.
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Glenstone has yet to get back to us about whether or not they saw a similar influx of interest, but they too thanked RM for the visit in a tweet that got 25.2 thousand likes and 5.6 thousand retweets.
A quick cross-platform repost from RM of @bts_bighit – thank so much for stopping by Glenstone yesterday, RM! We hope you enjoyed your visit!💜 #bts pic.twitter.com/FdmurvZlJm
— Glenstone Museum (@GlenstoneMuseum) December 11, 2021
RM last visited DC in June, when BTS met with President Biden to discuss Anti-Asian hate crime. Namjoon-ers without security clearances will have a trickier time recreating photos from that visit, on the White House’s South Lawn.
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