National Museum of Western Art

Introduction

The National Museum of Western Art is Japan's only national museum devoted solely to Western art. It opened in 1959 around the Matsukata Collection, assembled in Europe by the industrialist Kojiro Matsukata and returned to Japan by France after the war. The main building was designed by Le Corbusier and realised by his Japanese pupils Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura and Takamasa Yoshizaka; its exposed-concrete box, the idea of a museum that could grow indefinitely, and the daylight of the 19th-century hall make the architecture an exhibit in itself. It is a national Important Cultural Property and, since 2016, the sole Japanese component of the transnational UNESCO listing of Le Corbusier's work. The listing covers the building, not the paintings, so even standing in the forecourt counts as seeing the World Heritage site. That forecourt is free and holds Rodin's Thinker, Gates of Hell and Burghers of Calais, restored as far as possible to their opening-era positions in 2022. Inside, more than 6,000 works run from Veronese and Rubens through Monet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh to Picasso and Miro; most owned works may be photographed without flash or tripod. The collection costs JPY 500, JPY 250 for university students, and is free for high school and under and over-65s, with hours to 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays and a Monday closure. Special exhibitions are ticketed separately but include the collection. One minute from the JR Ueno park exit, it pairs easily with Tokyo National Museum and a day in Ueno Park.

✨ Highlights

🛈 Practical Info