Pola Museum of Art, Art museum in Sengokuhara, Japan.
The Pola Museum of Art is an art museum in Sengokuhara within Hakone National Park, built into a forested hillside with only eight meters rising above ground level. The underground design protects surrounding trees while allowing natural light to reach galleries through large glass surfaces.
The museum opened in September 2002 to display roughly 9,500 works amassed by Tsuneshi Suzuki, second-generation head of the Pola cosmetics company. He had begun buying art in the late 1950s and continued for over forty years. The collection now numbers about 10,000 pieces.
The name comes from Pola Corporation, the cosmetics company whose leadership assembled the collection. Visitors today see European paintings displayed alongside works by Japanese painters, bringing both traditions together in the same rooms.
A free shuttle bus runs from Gora Station to the entrance, taking around twenty minutes and connecting with the Hakone Tozan line from Odawara. A forest path around the building offers a short walk among trees that remains accessible even in light rain.
The lighting in the galleries was specially developed to highlight each painting individually while harmonizing with daylight from the forest. Technicians adjusted color temperature and brightness to match the changing seasons outside.
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