Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki

Didnt have the chance to go in, but the person at the entrance gave a very good introduction and overview of the place in English.

Highly recommended visit if you are in the area, mostly known for having the best collection in Japan for art work from the turn of the 19th century but also includes some modern surprises. Well worth the visit for art enthusiasts

Nice museum to visit! There are plenty of art in it. Please aware of shortened opening hours starting from June. 9-12pm (Last admission - 11:30)

A very interesting collection of artworks ranging from Renoir, Degas, Pollock, and artists like Fujishima Takeji, Aoki Shigeru, Kishida Ryūsei that I didn't know but have created beautiful artworks!

The Japanese are often too humble and reserved when it comes to their cultural institutions. There’s more than enough for a movie in the story of the friendship between industrialist, Ohara, and a masterful artist and stylist, Kojima, who bought priceless masterworks directly from European artists to build the first museum of western art in Japan. Rodin’s sculptures were in trade for Japanese woodblock prints. Monet sold his haystacks directly. These stories could be better told. I learned them from a stray book sitting in the gallery. In wartime before local Japanese soldiers were set to deploy, it is written that many came to the gallery and stood in contemplation of the art. To be at once inspired by western achievement and, by honor, set to fight the descendants of that legacy is a profound contradiction, and I find it enormously to the credit of the museum that they kept the art on view as best they could throughout the war years. It gives some small insight into the Japanese character to not toss the art despite conflict, and especially that the gallery purchased several significant works of American art in the immediate postwar years. The design of the galleries and the annex are architecturally interesting. It is true that there is some need of small renovations in places but the museum is not at all shabby, as some reviews have implied. This gallery is a must see. One also encounters the work of Kojima, who was a stylistic genius capable of creating art in several European styles he had mastered. He should be famous in the west and it is perhaps only due to his very short life that he is not. One can see why famous French artists were willing to deal with him directly. His talent is hard to overstate.