The first major period of Korean art during recorded history is the period of the Three Kingdoms (c. 57 bce–668 ce), when the peninsula of Korea was ruled by three monarchies. The Koguryŏ kingdom (traditionally dated 37 bce–668 ce) was the northernmost of the three, both geographically and culturally. First established in southern Manchuria, the Koguryŏ kingdom had a lifestyle based on the typically austere cultural patterns of northern Asia, evolved in a region characterized by its scarcity of arable land and severity of climate. The Paekche kingdom (traditionally dated 18 bce–660 ce) was centred in southwestern Korea, south of the present-day city of Seoul. This was a favourable geographic position for receiving foreign cultural influences. Paekche art, therefore, was open and receptive to Chinese influences. Northern Chinese cultural elements were introduced by land through the Koguryŏ kingdom, while southern Chinese influences easily crossed the navigable East Asian seas. The kingdom of Silla (traditionally dated 57 bce–668 ce) was the oldest of the monarchies. It originated in the present city of Kyŏngju and eventually came to cover most of southeastern Korea east of the Naktong River. The original territory of the Silla kingdom, the modern Kyŏngsang-puk province, is a mountain-secluded triangle, a geographic factor that is sometimes offered as an explanation for the distinctiveness and conservatism of its art.

The introduction of Buddhism into Koguryŏ from China (372 ce) brought a sudden efflorescence of the arts. The Koguryŏ kings started the building of temples and pagodas, and sculpture, in the form of Buddha images, made its appearance. By the 6th century, the Silla and Paekche kings had also become converts to the new faith, and from then until the 15th century, Buddhism formed one of the most important subjects of Korean art.

During the Three Kingdoms period there were three political and cultural centres: P’yŏngyang, the capital of Koguryŏ, in the northwest; the Kongju-Puyŏ region, the Paekche heartland, in the southwest; and Kyŏngju, the capital of Silla, in the southeast. Silla and Paekche, along with the minor state of Kaya (Japanese: Mimana) in the south-central region, maintained close cultural contacts with Japan, and it was at this time that the significant Korean influence on Japanese art began. The Paekche kingdom first introduced Buddhism and Chinese writing to Japan. South Korean immigrants to Japan founded important centres of learning and the arts. The Sue pottery of the Tumulus, or Kofun, period (also known as the Great Burial Period) was the Japanese version of the Silla gray stoneware pottery of Korea. Even the famed wall paintings of the Hōryū Temple in Nara, Japan, have been attributed to a northern Korean painter, Tamjing, from the Koguryŏ kingdom.

Except for several small Buddhist images in bronze and clay, and foundations of temples and pagodas very little remains of Koguryŏ’s religious art. A considerable amount, however, has been preserved from the two southern kingdoms. Paekche was the first to use granite in the construction of pagodas and sculpture. After the Three Kingdoms period, granite, which is abundant in Korea, was widely used in construction and sculpture. The granite pagodas of Korea stand in sharp contrast to the brick pagodas of China and the wooden pagodas of Japan.

The surviving secular art of the period consists chiefly of burial gifts taken from tombs. Not much is available from Koguryŏ, because the tombs were too easily accessible and have long since been looted. However, much pottery, along with items used for personal adornment, was uncovered in the second half of the 20th century from the less accessible Paekche and Silla tombs. The 1971 excavation of the tomb of King Munyŏng (died 523) and his queen in Kongju yielded many treasures, including gold crowns, silver and bronze items, and other decorative arts. That tomb is now on the list of World Heritage sites. The most valuable pieces of Old Silla art came from huge mounded tombs in the Kyŏngju area. The rich Silla gold mines, exhaustively worked, yielded the abundance of gold ornaments reflected in the ancient Japanese epithet Manokagayaku Shiragi (“Eye-Brightening Silla”).