The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (MOMAT), is Japan's first national art museum and is located across from the Imperial Palace. The museum is home to one of Japan's largest art collections, including countless masterpieces dating from the end of the 19th century to the present day by both Japanese and foreign artists. The MOMAT Collection exhibition presents a rotating selection from the collection. It is one of the foremost exhibitions in Japan, offering insight into more than a century of Japanese art in a single venue.
In addition to special thematic exhibitions featuring Japanese and overseas art held several times a year in the gallery on the first floor, the relaxation space ”A Room With A View” on the fourth floor offers a must-see view.
Near MOMAT are the Imperial Palace, Kitanomaru Park, and Chidorigafuchi Moat, where visitors can enjoy Japanese culture and rich natural surroundings. A stroll around the area and a visit to MOMAT will make for an exciting combination.
The museum offers a wide range of services to help make your visit more pleasant, including written descriptions of the displays and audio guides in four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean. Taking photographs for personal use is allowed in the collection galleries (see the details at the entrance). Special themed exhibitions dealing with art from specific eras and genres are presented several times a year on the museum’s first floor. And as the museum often stays open until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, visitors can enjoy a more leisurely evening. The facility is also home to L’Art et Mikuni, a highly regarded French restaurant overseen by chef Mikuni Kiyomi, a shop offering an assortment of original museum goods and other products, and a library of art related materials. Exhibition related Talks and Tours, and Seasonal events, such as Spring Festival and Summer Festival, will be held through a year.
Main works
Depicting a scene near Yoyogi where Kishida lived at the time, the painter tried to come close to nature again with an eye that had gone through influence of classical Western paintings. According the artist himself, it was a time when he began to escape from “influence of classical” Western paintings, and “the desire to directly face the mass of nature itself” returned. Closely composed and showing a unique spatial grasp that overwhelms the viewer, this is a highly prominent piece among paintings of the Taisho period (1912-26).
(Designated an Important Cultural Property on June 22, 1971)
National Important Cultural Property
Gazing off into the distance with his shirt over his head, the man in the center of this painting has a muscular physique that is decidedly un-Japanese. It is clear that Wada Sanzo, who was a young man of only 24 at the time, was completely obsessed with the Western Academic notion of depicting an idealized human form. The figures are sailors who have suffered an accident. Despite the situation, the form of the heroic men fits the exalted mood that followed the Russo-Japanese War, and the painting was apparently greeted with a positive response from contemporary viewers. It won the highest award at the first Bunten (Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition).
(Designated an Important Cultural Property on October 31, 2018)
National Important Cultural Property
- Harada Naojiro, Kannon Bodhisattva Riding the Dragon, 1890, National Important Cultural Property
- Henri Rousseau, Liberty Inviting Artists to Take Part in the 22nd Exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, 1905-06
- Yorozu Tetsugoro, Nude Beauty, 1912, National Important Cultural Property
- Yokoyama Taikan, Metempsychosis, 1923, National Important Cultural Property
- Kaburaki Kiyokata, Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town, 1927, National Important Cultural Property
- Pierre Bonnard, Landscape in Provence, 1932
- Okamoto Taro, Dawn, 1948
- Gerhard Richter, Abstract Picture (Red), 1994
