Best Exhibitions Starting in July 2025
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of the best exhibitions opening in July 2025. Bookmark the exhibitions on the TAB website or TAB app and never miss the openings and closings.
- 【Tokyo】Renaissance to Baroque Master Drawings from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
- 【Tokyo】The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest (Mori Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】Luigi Ghirri Infinite Landscapes (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】Sentiments Signes Passions, à propos du Livre d'image, J.L. Godard (Ohjo Building)
- 【Tokyo】Foujita: Painting and Photography (Tokyo Station Gallery)
- 【Tokyo】Nambata Tatsuoki (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
- 【Tokyo】Picturesque Pottery Ceramics Enjoying Art from Mingei to the Present (Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art)
- 【Tokyo】Opening Documents, Weaving Memories: A Special Exhibition Featuring Works from the Museum Collection (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
- 【Tokyo】Tove Jansson and the Moomins (Mori Arts Center Gallery)
- 【Tokyo】Ōoku : Women of Power in Edo Castle (Tokyo National Museum)
- 【Tokyo】80 Years After the War: War and Hansen’s Disease (The National Hansen's Disease Museum)
- 【Ibaraki】Katsuhiko Hibino "Alone on the Bridge Together on a Boat" (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito)
- 【Saitama】Nerhol: Misreading Righteousness (Museum of Modern Art, Saitama)
- 【Kanagawa】Yoshihiko Ueda: From the Hip (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
- 【Kanagawa】Atomic Bomb × Art: Connecting the Next Generation (Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki)
- 【Kyoto】Japanese Art at World’s Fairs from the Late Edo Period Onwards Expo: Nihonga in Profusion Hokusai • Taikan • Suiseki (Fukuda Art Museum)
- 【Nara】Voyage Around the World: Heritage of Beauty and Wonder (Nara National Museum)
- 【Osaka】Van Gogh's Home The Van Gogh Museum The Painters Legacy, The Family Collection, The Ongoing Story (Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts)
- 【Osaka】Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)
- 【Osaka】Yayoi Kusama "Infinity - Selected Works from the Collection" (Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka)
- 【Fukuoka】Kyushu's National Treasures, Kyuhaku's Beautiful Bounty (Kyushu National Museum)
- 【Nagasaki】War in the Eyes of Artists From Goya to Picasso, and then to Nagasaki (Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum)
【Tokyo】Renaissance to Baroque Master Drawings from the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
Focusing on the collection of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, this exhibition carefully selects and presents approximately 80 masterpieces from the Renaissance through Baroque periods. Drawings refer to line-based flat works that express the outlines, textures, and light and shadow of subjects using charcoal, chalk, pens, and other media. However, because they are susceptible to environmental changes, it is usually difficult to display drawings housed overseas. This is the first opportunity for such a substantial number of drawings to come to Japan.
Venue: National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo
Schedule: July 1 - September 28
【Tokyo】The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest (Mori Art Museum)
This exhibition is Sou Fujimoto's first large-scale retrospective, introducing numerous major works from his early career through current ongoing projects around the world, providing an overview of his quarter-century journey as an architect, architectural characteristics, and philosophy. On display are models, design drawings, photographs, as well as full-scale models and installations.
Venue: Mori Art Museum
Dates: July 2 - November 9
【Tokyo】Luigi Ghirri Infinite Landscapes (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum)
Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri has gained international attention in recent years through solo exhibitions in Europe and America, as well as the release of documentary films. Known for his extraordinary aesthetic sense for color, space, and light, Ghirri possessed a unique talent for finding humor and beauty in everyday scenes, transforming ordinary moments into compelling photographic art. This exhibition marks Ghirri's first museum solo exhibition in Asia.
Venue: Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Dates: July 3 - September 28
【Tokyo】Sentiments Signes Passions, à propos du Livre d'image, J.L. Godard (Ohjo Building)
This exhibition reconstructs Jean-Luc Godard's final full-length film, The Image Book (2018), as a video installation. Swiss filmmaker Fabrice Aragno serves as both artist and curator. Aragno handled cinematography, sound, and editing on Godard's films from 2010's Film Socialisme onward, becoming the director's close collaborator in his later years. The exhibition was planned and designed in collaboration with Godard himself, and after presentations in Germany and Switzerland, this marks its first showing in Japan.
Venue: Ohjo Building
Dates: July 4 - August 31
【Tokyo】Foujita: Painting and Photography (Tokyo Station Gallery)
The world-traveling artist Tsuguharu Foujita left behind thousands of photographs throughout his lifetime. The exhibition explores photographic fragments that appear in Foujita's paintings, examines his process of incorporating photography into his work, and presents many of his surviving photographs from collections in Japan and France, revealing previously unknown aspects of his artistic practice.
Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery
Dates: July 5 - August 31
【Tokyo】Nambata Tatsuoki (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
Nambata Tatsuoki began his painting career before the war and established himself as a pioneer of Japanese abstract painting in the postwar period. While absorbing artistic trends from overseas, he never followed them blindly or aligned himself with specific movements, instead forging his own distinctive path. This exhibition, marking the 120th anniversary of Nanbata's birth, brings together works from the museum's collection alongside pieces from museums nationwide and private collections.
Venue: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Dates: July 11 - October 2
【Tokyo】Picturesque Pottery Ceramics Enjoying Art from Mingei to the Present (Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art)
This exhibition defines "picturesque pottery" as ceramic works with painterly expression and ceramics influenced by painting, presenting a cross-section of Japanese ceramics from the 20th and 21st centuries through this lens. The show brings together approximately 80 works ranging from tableware to traditional crafts, avant-garde ceramics, and contemporary pieces.
Venue: Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art
Dates: July 12 - September 15
【Tokyo】Opening Documents, Weaving Memories: A Special Exhibition Featuring Works from the Museum Collection (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
Art has long been called a "mirror reflecting the times," with each generation reinterpreting its meaning and revealing shifts in aesthetic consciousness and historical perspective. As Japan marks the milestones of 80th year since the end of the war and the 100th year of Showa in 2025, this exhibition examines the cultural memories embedded in works from the museum's collection and archival materials.
Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Dates: July 15 - October 26
【Tokyo】Tove Jansson and the Moomins (Mori Arts Center Gallery)
This exhibition explores the creative world of Tove Jansson, creator of the beloved Moomin characters and a multitalented artist who excelled in painting, satirical drawings, manga, picture books, and novels. The show displays approximately 300 items, including early oil paintings, satirical drawings, original artwork from Moomin novels and comics, sketches, and personal belongings. Through her diverse artistic expressions spanning painting, literature, and manga, the exhibition traces Tove's development as an artist and reveals insights into her life.
Venue: Mori Arts Center Gallery
Dates: July 16 - September 17
【Tokyo】Ōoku : Women of Power in Edo Castle (Tokyo National Museum)
Edo Castle, now the site of the Imperial Palace, once housed the shogun's inner quarters known as the "Ōoku." In this secluded world inhabited by wives, concubines, and female servants, the lives of women under the immense power of the Tokugawa family unfolded with dramatic rises and falls. Yet beyond the political intrigue, within their tightly regulated daily existence governed by strict protocols and prohibitions, these women experienced the full spectrum of human emotion—joy, sorrow, hope, and despair. This exhibition reveals the reality of life in the Ōoku, contrasting sharply with the glamorous portrayals seen in popular plays and dramas, through precious historical documents and artifacts.
Venue: Tokyo National Museum
Dates: July 19 - September 21
【Tokyo】80 Years After the War: War and Hansen’s Disease (The National Hansen's Disease Museum)
An examination of Japan's modern history reveals how war intensified the isolation of Hansen's disease patients and exacerbated the suffering caused by forced segregation. This exhibition presents materials exploring sanatoriums during wartime, sanatoriums under Japanese colonial rule, and the Battle of Okinawa. The show also traces the experiences of Hansen's disease survivors who contracted the illness while serving in the military and were subsequently forced into sanatoriums.
Venue: The National Hansen's Disease Museum
Dates: July 19 - August 31
【Ibaraki】Katsuhiko Hibino "Alone on the Bridge Together on a Boat" (Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito)
In the early 1980s, Katsuhiko Hibino achieved consecutive major awards at public exhibitions with his cardboard works, instantly becoming a celebrated figure of his generation. During the 1990s, he explored ways to express intangible concepts, while the 2000s saw him move toward collaborative art projects. From the 2010s onward, he has developed practices that connect art to society through his roles as museum director and university president. This exhibition offers an in-depth look at Hibino's multidisciplinary career through the perspectives of those who have worked closely with him.
Venue: Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito
Dates: July 19 - October 5
【Saitama】Nerhol: Misreading Righteousness (Museum of Modern Art, Saitama)
Nerhol is an artist duo consisting of graphic designer Yoshihisa Tanaka and sculptor Ryuta Iida. Over the years, their practice has evolved into rich expressions that reveal complex relationships transcending time and space, uncovering hidden narratives within layered imagery. This exhibition, featuring primarily new and previously unseen works, provides insight into their current multifaceted investigations and the continuing evolution of their artistic language.
Venue: The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
Dates: July 12 - October 13
【Kanagawa】Yoshihiko Ueda: From the Hip (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
Yoshihiko Ueda has worked across a wide range of fields since early in his career, including natural and urban landscapes, celebrity portraits, and commercial photography. Though his style has evolved over time, he has consistently received high praise both domestically and internationally for his pursuit of universal beauty. This exhibition, his first at a public art museum in about 20 years, offers a comprehensive survey of four decades of creative work from the 1980s to the present through approximately 500 works that he personally developed and printed.
Venue: Museum of Modern Art, Hayama
Dates: July 19 - November 3
【Kanagawa】Atomic Bomb × Art: Connecting the Next Generation (Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki)
As this year marks 80 years since the end of the war, this exhibition seeks to pass down memories of war and atomic bombing to the next generation. The project draws inspiration from students at Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High School who create "atomic bomb pictures" based on testimonies from atomic bomb survivors. Displayed alongside Taro Okamoto's masterpiece "Myth of Tomorrow," which confronted the theme of nuclear weapons, are works by nine groups of contemporary artists. Drawing from memories of the war 80 years ago, these artists address current global issues through their unique perspectives, questioning how we should live in an increasingly complex world.
Venue: Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki
Dates: July 19 - October 19
【Kyoto】Japanese Art at World’s Fairs from the Late Edo Period Onwards Expo: Nihonga in Profusion Hokusai • Taikan • Suiseki (Fukuda Art Museum)
World expositions have long served as platforms for countries to showcase their cultural achievements. Japanese governments actively used these global events to gain international recognition, exhibiting works by masters like Hokusai alongside ambitious contemporary paintings. To commemorate the 2025 Expo in Kansai, this exhibition presents outstanding works by painters who dared to exhibit their art to the world.
Venue: Fukuda Art Museum
Schedule: July 19 - September 28
【Nara】Voyage Around the World: Heritage of Beauty and Wonder (Nara National Museum)
This exhibition draws from Tenri University Sankokan Museum's vast collection of 300,000 items gathered worldwide, combining carefully selected works with Buddhist artworks from Nara National Museum to explore approximately 6,000 years of human history. Organized into three chapters, the show displays approximately 250 items, primarily archaeological and ethnological materials.
Venue: Nara National Museum
Dates: July 26 - September 23
【Osaka】Van Gogh's Home The Van Gogh Museum The Painters Legacy, The Family Collection, The Ongoing Story (Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts)
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam houses approximately 200 oil paintings and 500 drawings by Vincent van Gogh, along with letters, related works, and ukiyo-e prints. Most of these were permanently loaned by the Vincent van Gogh Foundation when the museum opened in 1973. This exhibition, featuring works primarily from the Van Gogh Museum's collection, displays more than 30 Van Gogh works alongside four of his letters being shown in Japan for the first time.
Venue: Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts
Dates: July 5 - August 31
【Osaka】Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys (Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)
Celebrating 170 years since its founding and coinciding with Expo 2025, Louis Vuitton presents a story of pioneering spirit and the distinctive art of travel. This immersive exhibition explores exceptional craftsmanship, creation, and innovation, developed with art historian and curator Florence Müller and designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA. The show unfolds chronologically to present a remarkable portrait of the house, from its origins to its newest creations, paying tribute to Louis Vuitton's enduring relationship with Japan.
Venue: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Dates: July 15 - September 17
【Osaka】Yayoi Kusama "Infinity - Selected Works from the Collection" (Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka)
Yayoi Kusama continues to gain international recognition through museum exhibitions and art festivals worldwide. She has also generated significant attention through her collaboration with Louis Vuitton, covering both products and stores with her signature dots. This exhibition is part of the "Hors-les-murs" program, which presents works from the Fondation Louis Vuitton collection at Espace Louis Vuitton locations in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul, and Osaka. The show displays Kusama's installations, paintings, and other works spanning from her early international career to recent creations.
Venue: Espace Louis Vuitton Osaka
Dates: July 16 - January 12, 2026
【Fukuoka】Kyushu's National Treasures, Kyuhaku's Beautiful Bounty (Kyushu National Museum)
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Kyushu National Museum, this exhibition presents cultural treasures from Kyushu and Okinawa alongside the museum's own collection. The show brings together numerous National Treasures related to Kyushu and Okinawa, as well as carefully selected masterpieces from the museum's holdings.
Venue: Kyushu National Museum
Dates: July 5 - August 31
【Nagasaki】War in the Eyes of Artists From Goya to Picasso, and then to Nagasaki (Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum)
Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum presents a special exhibition on the theme of war, marking both the museum's 20th anniversary and 80 years since the atomic bombing. Drawing from its strength in Spanish art, the museum centers the exhibition on Francisco de Goya's series "The Disasters of War" from its collection, exploring the brutal realities of conflict. The show features Goya oil paintings from the Prado Museum and Picasso prints created during the Spanish Civil War from the Museo Reina Sofía, alongside war and atomic bomb-related works from Japanese museums.
Venue: Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum
Dates: July 19 - September 7
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