The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National art museum in Kitanomaru Park, Tokyo, Japan.
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo stands in Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda. Its main building, designed by Yoshirō Taniguchi and enlarged in a 2002 renovation, has a flat roof, a band of windows behind vertical fins, and a recessed ground floor on thick light-brown pillars. A dark-grey wall at the right carries the name 東京国立近代美術館 in light lettering above wide shallow steps.
The institution opened in 1952 as Japan's first national art collection in a different building and relocated here to Kitanomaru Park in 1969. Postwar architects designed the structure as a response to the growing collection and the need for a modern exhibition space.
The name of this institution in Kitanomaru Park reflects the period when Japan opened to Western artistic forms after 1868 and blended them with local traditions. Visitors today see works by Japanese artists who experimented with oil painting, ink and printmaking while mixing European styles with local subjects.
The museum opens from Saturday through Thursday between 10 and 17, and on Fridays until 20, most easily reached via Takebashi Station. Finding your way is straightforward as signs in the park guide you and the building is accessible from several entrances.
The museum's collection grew from purchases, transfers of works from the Cultural Properties Protection Committee, and gifts from artists and collectors, which is why a new building was needed by 1969. The Bridgestone founder Shōjirō Ishibashi, a museum trustee, paid for the Kitanomaru Park building, designed by engineer Yoshirō Taniguchi, and donated it. The 2002 renovation added a library open to the public and the restaurant Queen Alice Aqua Tokyo.
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