Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

the line for van gogh was incredibly long (as expected fo van gogh) so my mother and I opted to look at the free exhibits, which was all japanese calligraphy with no translated guide to read from. i don't expect places to cater to my every need as a foreigner but was disappointed at the lack of permanent exhibit and actual paintings to look at. the museum itself was also rather stuffy unfortunately. overall disappointing and unpleasant experience. also as a side note: make sure you bring cash to this museum as some exhibits dont take card

The diy exhibition was a must see. I don’t have pictures here cause photo was not allowed in diy which is in b1. Go up on the second floor exhibit 2 and 4 are free. Look closely at the quilt—the way the colors harmonize yet still create such dramatic contrast is pure genius. I can’t stop marveling at how the artist endured the long, solitary hours, carefully stitching together countless fabric pieces so flawlessly flat, without a single bunch or wrinkle. If you truly give your full attention to these artworks, they will leave you exhausted within two hours. It’s a mutual exchange—the artists pour out their energy creating them, and in return they ask for your presence and attention. I deeply respect, honor, and appreciate their hearts and souls, which you can clearly feel within the work itself.

Went to the Van Gogh exhibition during the holiday/weekend time at around 11 am. Wasn’t crowded and didn’t book the tickets in advance actually. Got to enter right after purchasing. The wait time for purchase was ~3-4 mins. It was a good exhibition with quite a lot of works not limited to van Gogh but purchased/kept by his relatives as well. I can say that you will not be disappointed. It was not allowed to take pictures of the exhibits but at the end there is a pretty cool short video animating his famous works. You can also find merch store but the prices were quite high - saw a cute knitted mini-version of van Gogh 🥺

The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum boasts one of the finest permanent collections in the world. Masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, Bruegel, Bosch, and even Vermeer are part of its remarkable display. I was lucky enough to see them in person — and there happened to be a special Picasso exhibition on at the same time. Located in Ueno Park, surrounded by other outstanding museums and the zoo, it’s the perfect spot for a cultural day out in Tokyo.

The museum provides an elegant, well-paced environment. The exhibition itself adds intellectual and emotional layers by exploring Van Gogh’s legacy via his family collection, rather than only his art in isolation. I’d rate it highly for anyone interested in Van Gogh, modern art history, or how artists’ legacies are built and preserved. It strikes a great balance between accessibility (you don’t need to be an art scholar) and depth (there is meaningful content for those who want to engage more deeply). Taking photos is prohibited except at the end of the journey (exhibit).

We got to check out the Van Gogh exhibition which is there until mid-December ‘25. No pictures allowed and it was a really interesting exhibition of the Van Gogh family and their roles in art history as collectors. There was some interesting ties to the influences on Vincent Van Gogh, both from Europe but also from Japan. We also got to checkout a Gallery highlighting modern Japanese art. There was well over 100 paintings and was really nice to walk through. I highly recommend checking out this gallery on your visit to the museum

came here for the van gogh exhibition before it ended. one thing i really like about japan is that all of the exhibitions have better curation and story-telling than other museums (and i’ve been to many museum ls around the world). wasn’t able to take pictures in the van gogh museums since the artworks were on loan, but the experience was very enjoyable.

The exhibition has a good collection of Van Gogh artworks. There are many paintings I have not seen before, however the most famous/impressive ones (like Starry Nights) I wanted to see weren’t there. Also even I came on weekdays, it was way too crowded. For the super-popular exhibition like Van Gogh’s it would be better to control entry time slots or limit numbers of tickets per day even on weekdays. I reserved the tickets in advance but still had to queue in a very long line to get in. The light setting in the exhibition was also too dim, making it difficult to read detail caption next to the paintings.

Check out the giant sculptures in the courtyard at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Gallery in Ueno Park. Love the reflections on My Sky Hole by Bukichi Inoue. What a difference a few hours makes in Tokyo. Snow in the morning which then turned into beautiful sunny day in the afternoon. A great place to reflect on the magic of Mother Nature.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum: After walking through the rich history presented in the nearby Tokyo National Museum, Jamie W. and I thought the more contemporary collection of art was more of a mixed bag complicated by the separate pricing they charge for each of the six galleries inside. The only one we paid to see was for the special exhibition on the second floor. It was 1,400 JPY per person, but it was the Masterpieces of Impressionism from London's Courtauld Gallery. Very nice to see paintings by Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, and the like, but it was so crowded, we barely got glimpses, and photography was prohibited. The rest of the galleries featured local artists in various forms from brush painting to ceramics. Not an essential visit if you ask us. RELATED - Traveling in Japan? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2qrUBZo

After checking out of my hostel, I walked to Ueno Park and decided to check out the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (I'll abbreviate it as TMAM). Yesterday while at the Ueno Zoo, I saw on a brochure that the Art Museum has some free exhibitions. Since I am on a budget, I figured why not and check it out. I wheeled my carry on suitcase all the way to the TMAM from Arakawa-ku. The entrance is on the basement floor. I went to the information desk and the lady I spoke to knew some English. She showed me the chart of which exhibitions cost money and which ones are free. She also said the Van Gogh exhibition starts in a few days but it's not available yet. I said I'll just check out the free exhibitions. She highlighted the areas on a map for me and I thanked her. I also asked her where I can store my suitcase, she pointed to the locker and said what I found out was it's refundable!!! Sweet! So with the help of another staff, I found the bigger lockers by the Citizen Gallery 4 on the same floor. The locker is 100 yen for any size and its refundable. Amazing!!! There's also umbrella lockers available by the entrance/exit, not sure how it works. It's my first time seeing umbrella lockers, whoever came up with the idea is genius! And after getting my key from the locker, I was ready to check out artwork. I went to: [LBF(B1F)] Citizen's Gallery 4: I really loved this exhibition, there were a lot of large artwork pieces that I was fascinated by. They were also inspirational and awesome. I uploaded some pictures on Yelp. [1F] Citizen's Gallery 1 & 2: see below [2F] Citizen's Gallery 3 & 4: Both 1F and 2F were Calligraphy. I breezed through these exhibitions pretty fast. There were a lot of Calligraphy done on papers, scrolls, and other mediums. The brush strokes are amazing. The calligraphy pieces varied. Some calligraphy things were also available for purchase such as brushes, inks, and papers. My favorite was the Citizen's Gallery from the basement floor. A lot of cool artwork. Aside from that, I loved the silver round reflective sculpture outside of the TMAM, it reminded me of the Bean sculpture from Chicago. The museum lacked some English translations like the artist labels and some exhibition information. But if you really want to know, just try to find a staff who can speak fluent English to translate for you. If you plan to visit multiple museums and/or zoo on the same day, I suggest leaving your stuff at the refundable locker at TMAM, go explore wherever, and then pick up your stuff before they close. That way you save money from lockers (they usually cost 400 to 600 yen at train stations). Tokyo National Museum also has refundable locker fee but you can't re-enter. Support artists! :-)

In 1926, the first public music in Japan opened. Known as the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and it is the go to museum for masterpieces from abroad and contemporary art are introduced. It's current location is not the original museum, as the Tokyo Prefectural Museum at Ueno Park was too cramped. So, an architect named Kunio Maekawa designed a new museum in Ueno Park. And restoration to the building began in 2010 and the building was re-opened in 2012. The museum consists of the "Kikaku" wing for special exhibitions, the "kobo" wing for galleries with themed exhibitions, exhibitions of the museum's collections and artist groups' exhibitions. The building also has an entrance hall, a restaurant, a cafe, a lounge and a museum shop. When you arrive at the museum, the first thing you will notice is the metal sphere titled "my sky hole 85-2, light and shadow", created in 1985 by Bukichi Inoue. The following is the "Sanbon no Chokuhotai B" or "Three Cuboids B" (1978) created by Masakazu Horiuchi not far from the sphere. The purpose of me visiting was the Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin exhibit at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. As expected, no cameras allowed inside the exhibit room, but photos are allowed in the store, restaurant, near the information booth. The art exhibit is all in Japanese but you can purchase the service to listen to a translation via headphone. But there was a lot of great artwork by Van Gogh and Gauguin and once you exit, there were t-shirts, post cards and a good-sized art book (in Japanese) for under $25 which is a steal. I was surprised to see Van Gogh capsule toys inside the selling area as well. But for the most part, I really enjoy my time at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and for those who love art and often visit art museums, I do recommend checking whatever exhibit is taking place at the location.

The first Japanese museum we went to on our Japan trip was the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. I was pretty excited because there was going to be a world class Monet exhibition there. Unfortunately, and this is the reason the museum loses a star, we were unable to see local art because you couldn't see it with the tickets we purchased. We were unable to find out exactly how much to pay to see most of the museum and the museum staff were unable to clearly fill us in. Some of them told us that there were several rooms where you could see art with the general admission ticket. We found out the hard way that it wasn't the case. My advice is to come prepared to this museum with a basic knowledge of words and phrases that might be helpful in this scenario. It was a pretty confusing experience. It turns out that it is pretty expensive to see much of the art in this museum. From outside of the rooms where the local art hung I could tell it was really good. I really regret not paying more to have gotten a chance to see it. It was early in our trip and I thought that I would be better off saving money for other things that might present themselves in the future. In any case, the Monet exhibition was awesome. It was from the Musee Marmottan Monet. The museum was seriously packed so it was hard to get to see many of the pieces. If you like to stand in front of art really take it in, well, it's pretty much impossible here at this museum. It would be very rude of you to park in front of a piece with so many people trying to get a look at it. I can honestly say I have never been in a museum as packed as this one! Of course, I must mention that we were here on a weekend. The museum itself isn't in the most beautiful or even interesting structure I have ever seen. That's kind of a shame for a world class museum. What can I do without at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum? The crowds and the fact it is pricey! What stands out at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum? All the cool local art I got to see from the outside! Four stars! The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum is really ridiculously good!

Didn't pay to see the special exhibit (Babel) but went to see the local galleries using our six month Ueno pass. Perfect compliment to seeing "old" art at the other two nearby art museums. ========== Returned nine months later to see excellent Brueghel exhibit. No discount with Ueno passport.