National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo
The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo is located in one of the most beautiful places in Tokyo - Ueno Park. This is a unique and largest cultural institution in Asia, where the best works of European masters are exhibited. Currently, the collection consists of approximately 2 thousand exhibits, so it is recommended to allocate several hours to visit the cultural heritage site.
History of creation
The core of the exhibition at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo is the collection of Japanese businessman and art connoisseur Matsukata Kojiro. He believed that the Japanese should definitely have access to the best that European culture has. Already from the beginning of the 20th century, the philanthropist began to collect a collection of European paintings. He had to overcome many obstacles. Some of the purchased masterpieces burned down in England. The collection that remained at the beginning of World War II was in France and was confiscated. But by the end of the 1950s, most of the collection was returned. As a result, Matsukata collected more than 10,000 museum items, many of which are unique masterpieces.
Museum architecture
The collection was returned with the condition that a special building be built for it. It deserves special mention. The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo was designed by the famous architect Le Corbusier, who at one time formulated the Five Principles of Modern Architecture. Construction began in 1957 and was completed by 1959. The discreet concrete building looks stylish and modern. As the collection grew, so did the size of the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. In 1979, Le Corbusier's student and follower Kunio Maekawa added additional space to the building for new exhibits. In 1997, a hall for temporary exhibitions and an auditorium for lectures and training sessions were completed. The huge concrete building houses a rich collection of Western paintings, graphics and sculpture.
Exposure
On the ground floor at the entrance to the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo there are paintings by medieval artists painted between the 15th and 18th centuries. Among them are paintings by Italian, Flemish and Dutch masters, German, French and Spanish artists. Thanks to Matsukata Kojiro, in Japan you can see masterpieces of the best European masters - Tintoretto, Veronese, van Dyck, Rubens, Delacroix, Millet, Corot and so on.
In the part of the building that was added to the museum in 1979, you can see works created in the second half of the 19th - 20th centuries. These are collections of French impressionists and symbolists, Italian futurists. The visitor will be able to see the best works of Renoir, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Picasso. The graphic collection includes works by Durer, Goya, Rembrandt and other masters.
It is worth paying attention to the collections of two masters, which are most fully represented in the museum. Claude Monet was a close friend of Matsukata, and he sold 18 of his paintings to a Japanese museum. One of them - "Water Lilies" - is the most famous of the works of the great artist. 88 works by Auguste Rodin are also exhibited here. A rich collection of his sculptures is located on the ground floor of the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, among them the world famous "The Thinker".
