The (literally 'art museum in the earth') is a museum built directly into a southern portion of the island of Naoshima in

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

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 n ...

. It was designed by architect

Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a few m ...

and opened to the public on July 18, 2004.

Background

The subterranean museum is under the administration of the Fukutake Foundation, a project of the

Benesse Corporation is a Japanese company which focuses on correspondence education and publishing. Based in Okayama-City, it is the parent company of Berlitz Language Schools, which in turn is the parent company of ELS Language Centers. Benesse is listed on the ...

whose president

Soichiro Fukutake is a Japanese billionaire, and the former chairman of the Benesse Corporation, a publishing firm and juku company known for its patronage of the arts. Career Fukutake inherited Benesse, which his father founded in 1955 as Fukutake Publishing. A ...

also acts as director of the facility. It exists as part of an ongoing initiative to "rethink the relationship between nature and people," and is one of several arts-related sites generating tourist interest in the area. Despite its position buried underground, the design of the building is such that it facilitates the exclusive use of natural light to illuminate a number of the exhibits, changing their appearance at different viewing times throughout the day and, in essence, encompassing the building itself within the same realm as the art on display.

Exhibited works

The site features permanent installations by Walter De Maria and

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outsid ...

, as well as painted works in the ''

Water Lilies ''Water Lilies'' (or ''Nymphéas'', ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artisti ...

'' series by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Walter De Maria

*"Time/Timeless/No Time," 2004 – granite, mahogany, gold leaf, concrete

Claude Monet

*"Water Lilies," 1914–1917 – oil on canvas, 200×200 cm *"Water Lilies, Reflections of Weeping Willows," 1916–1919 – oil on canvas, 100×200 cm *"Water-Lily Pond," 1917–1919 – oil on canvas, 100×200 cm *"Water-Lily Pond," c.1915–1926 – oil on canvas, diptych, each part: 200×300 cm

James Turrell

*"Afrum, Pale Blue," 1968 – projector *"Open Field," 2000 – fluorescent light, neon tube *"Open Sky," 2004 – LED, xenon lamp

Chichu Garden

Located between the ticket center and main museum building, the ''Chichu Garden'' is an area roughly 400m² in size that features approximately 150 types of plants, 40 kinds of trees and almost 200 kinds of flowers that either appeared in Monet's works or were collected by the artist during his lifetime. As Monet was an avid gardener, his own designs as well as inspiration gleaned directly from some of his most famous paintings were used to design the garden and ponds that make up the area, which even feature some of the same water lilies that appear in his famous series. The rationale behind ''Chichu Garden'' is one where, through physical experience, it is believed one's understanding and appreciation of Claude Monet's work can be deepened.Chichu Art Museum Garden Website

References

External links

*
Benesse Art Site NaoshimaBenesse Corporation
* {{authority control Tadao Ando buildings Contemporary art galleries in Japan Museums in Kagawa Prefecture Benesse Buildings and structures completed in 2004 Art museums established in 2004 Modernist architecture in Japan 2004 establishments in Japan