In 1926, the first public music in Japan opened. Known as the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and it is the go to museum for masterpieces from abroad and contemporary art are introduced.
It’s current location is not the original museum, as the Tokyo Prefectural Museum at Ueno Park was too cramped. So, an architect named Kunio Maekawa designed a new museum in Ueno Park. And restoration to the building began in 2010 and the building was re-opened in 2012.
The museum consists of the “Kikaku” wing for special exhibitions, the “kobo” wing for galleries with themed exhibitions, exhibitions of the museum’s collections and artist groups’ exhibitions. The building also has an entrance hall, a restaurant, a cafe, a lounge and a museum shop.
When you arrive at the museum, the first thing you will notice is the metal sphere titled “my sky hole 85-2, light and shadow”, created in 1985 by Bukichi Inoue.
The following is the “Sanbon no Chokuhotai B” or “Three Cuboids B” (1978) created by Masakazu Horiuchi not far from the sphere.
The purpose of me visiting was the Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin exhibit at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.
As expected, no cameras allowed inside the exhibit room, but photos are allowed in the store, restaurant, near the information booth.
The art exhibit is all in Japanese but you can purchase the service to listen to a translation via headphone. But there was a lot of great artwork by Van Gogh and Gauguin and once you exit, there were t-shirts, post cards and a good-sized art book (in Japanese) for under $25 which is a steal.
I was surprised to see Van Gogh capsule toys inside the selling area as well.
But for the most part, I really enjoy my time at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and for those who love art and often visit art museums, I do recommend checking whatever exhibit is taking place at the location.
