Pola Museum of Art

A peaceful and elegant afternoon in the forest. The collection features beautiful works by Cézanne, Monet, Picasso, and Renoir, all thoughtfully displayed in a serene, modern space. I had lunch at the museum’s restaurant, then wandered through the forest trail surrounded by quiet and trees. Art, food, and nature — the perfect balance.

Such a cool museum. We saw the COLOR exhibit and it’s one of the best exhibits I’ve ever seen. So good we had to buy the book. There are lockers to store your backpack and umbrellas if it’s raining. These were especially helpful for the nature walk that was through a gorgeous forest. Art outside is my new favourite thing. Highly recommend if you’re in Hakone.

As with most things Japanese the harmony of the art work, the architecture of the building and the surrounding nature make for a very appealing visit. There is both a bus stop out front as well as a free shuttle to and from Gora. There are free lockers for personal items as well as cables to secure large suitcases in case this is your last activity on the way out. The colours exhibition was memorable and well curated. Do also have a stroll in the forest. There are short, medium and long options for the walk and you get to see some of the fantastic supporting structure that makes this building float on the mountain. The Japanese stewartia trees make a compelling argument that nature is the best artist.

We caught the local bus up to the museum which was really easy to do, lovely drive up there through the beautiful lush green vegetation, we had lunch at the restaurant which was absolutely superb before wandering around the museum, amazing artwork very thought-provoking, with modern and classical arts on display

Beautiful building situated in a most beautiful mountain forest Great exhibition, good for 1.5h to 2.5h tour Coffee is horrible though ;)

A really beautiful museum surrounded by nature 🌿 They have different exhibitions (depending on when you are coming) and a fixed catalog gallery that is equally amazing!!! The transportation there was easy since they have a shuttle (you can check the schedule in Gora station or from their website). Obsessed with the nature trail and the outdoor sculptures, makes Pola Museum of Art differ from other museums.

Total change of exhibits from previous years! This time the whole museum was about Japanese artists essentially, who were impacted on by the famous Dutch Van Gogh along with a few other artists from other countries

I stumbled upon the Impact of Van Gogh exhibition which was just excellent and provided a lot of insight into how Van Gogh influenced Japanese art from beg 20th century onwards - and not just the well-known inspiration from Japanese prints for Van Gogh himself. Overall a very pleasant space, and a peaceful nature walk with a few modern sculptures scattered along it.