Nagoya City Art Museum

名古屋市美術館Naka, Aichi

Museum

What makes this place special?

At a Glance

The Nagoya City Art Museum is a municipal art museum in Shirakawa Park, in Naka-ku, Nagoya. It opened on 22 April 1988 in a building designed by Kisho Kurokawa, who worked motifs from Nagoya Castle, Ōsu Kannon and Atsuta Shrine into the design.

Kurokawa kept the building below the height of the surrounding trees, with the permanent galleries underground and a sunken garden that brings daylight to the approach. The collection has four main areas: art from the Nagoya region, the École de Paris, the Mexican Renaissance, and postwar and contemporary art. Works by Modigliani, Chagall, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera sit alongside pieces by artists from Aichi. Photography has been an important part of the programme since the museum opened.