Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama

The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama is a public museum for modern art with two locations in Kanagawa Prefecture, with the main building in Hayama by the sea and the annex in Kamakura displaying Japanese works. Both houses have several exhibition rooms and a small museum shop at the entrance, while the Hayama architecture uses glass and open floor plans for natural light.

It opened in 1951 as the first public museum for modern art in Japan and became a pioneer institution for exhibition forms in postwar Japan. Some of the earliest exhibitions introduced new forms of presentation and later influenced many other museums in the region.

The name refers to two locations in the greater Kamakura area, with each facility showing a different collection and drawing a different audience. Visitors experience the works in smaller, quiet rooms that invite slow viewing and sit away from the bustle of big city museums.

The Hayama location remains closed until March 2025 due to renovation work, while the Kamakura Annex opens Tuesday through Sunday and shows changing exhibitions. The rooms are air-conditioned and largely accessible, with staff at the entrance offering guidance on current rooms and works.

The collection includes a complete edition of Henri Matisse's Jazz portfolio from 1947 with colored paper cutouts, which can be seen in only a few museums worldwide. Alongside it, the house owns a large oil painting of Enoshima by Yuichi Takahashi, showing the island in bright colors and often considered a highlight of the Japanese collection.