This article analyzes the formation and transformation of the Korean art world through the dual lenses of functional autonomy and vertical autonomy. The Korean art world was shaped by colonial domination, Cold War, and authoritarianism, producing uneven, overlapping, and state-mediated processes of institutionalization. During the colonial and early postcolonial periods, the Korean art world lacked both functional autonomy from political power and vertical autonomy from the global artistic field. Democratization and globalization during the late twentieth century expanded both forms of autonomy, enabling artistic innovation and transnational engagement and facilitating Korea’s movement from the global periphery toward the semi-periphery. The cultural hierarchies structured around the intersecting oppositions of high–low and Western–traditional became less rigid as autonomy expanded, opening space for hybrid forms of creativity. By integrating theory of art world, artistic field, and global artistic field, the article contributes to a comparative sociology of art world.