The Sompo Museum of Art is an art museum in

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is owned by the Japanese insurance company

SOMPO , formerly NKSJ Holdings and , is a Japanese insurance company. It is the second-largest property insurance company in Japan only behind Tokio Marine, with market share of 19.3% in 2007. The “Sompo” in the company's name means in Japanese, t ...

and is located next to the company's headquarters. It started as the

Seiji Togo Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...

Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art in 1976 and gradually expanded. The current six-storey building was completed in 2020. The museum became famous when it bid 5.8 billion yen (£25 million) for one of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

's Sunflowers paintings at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 30 March 1987, far exceeding the largest amount ever paid for a painting. The record up to that point was 1.95 billion yen (£8.2 million), which was paid for ''

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

'' by

Mantegna Mantegna is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Andrea Mantegna ( – 1506), Italian painter * Gia Mantegna (born 1990), American actress * Joe Mantegna (born 1947), American actor See also * Mantegna Tarocchi The Mantegna Tarocc ...

. The painting has been in the museum's collection ever since.

Collection

File:Van Gogh Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers.jpg, '' Sunflowers'' (F457),

, 1888 File:Lane at Alchamps, Arles 1888 Paul Gauguin.jpg, Lane at Alchamps, Arles,

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, 1888 File:Pommes et Serviette 1879-80 Paul Cezanne.jpg, Apples and Serviette,

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

, 1879

References

{{coord, 35.69264, 139.69652, format=dms, type:landmark_region:JP, display=title Art museums and galleries in Tokyo Museums established in 1976 1976 establishments in Japan