Fukuoka Art Museum

Fukuoka Art Museum (福岡市美術館, Fukuoka-shi Bijutsukan) is a municipal art museum located in Ōhori Park in Fukuoka, Japan. Opened in November 1979, it houses a significant collection of approximately 10,000 works spanning Western and Asian art, with particular strengths in modern and contemporary art, Japanese antiquities, and regional cultural heritage. The museum serves as a major cultural institution in Kyushu, hosting temporary exhibitions and the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, a triennial survey of contemporary art from across Asia that began in 1999.

The museum opened on 3 November 1979 as a municipal institution. From its inception, it pursued the systematic collection of modern art from western Japan. The German Wikipedia source indicates a 1975 date, though this appears to be an error given the consistent 1979 founding date in other sources and the specific opening day of 3 November 1979 recorded in Wikidata. The museum has since developed into a significant venue for international exhibitions, exemplified by a major Marc Chagall exhibition held in November 2010. Since 1999, it has organized the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, introducing contemporary art from 21 countries and regions throughout Asia. The trienniale editions have been held in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2009, and 2014, each with a different thematic focus.

The collection encompasses approximately 10,000 objects with several distinct areas of concentration. A primary focus is modern art from western Japan, including works by regional artists such as Aoki Shigeru, Sakamoto Hanjirō, Kojima Zenzaburō, and Tomita Keisen, as well as international contemporary figures including Yayoi Kusama, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The museum holds important historical collections derived from major donations: approximately 500 treasures from the former Kuroda daimyo family, including Important Cultural Properties; roughly 100 Buddhist artworks from the Tōkōin; and 350 objects from the Matsunaga Memorial Hall in Odawara, notably including ceramics by Ogata Kenzan and Nonomura Ninsei related to tea ceremony culture. The collection of older art comprises 2,000 articles. Among the holdings, 29 object groups (48 individual items) are classified as Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

The museum's most celebrated individual work is The Madonna of Port Lligat (1950 version) by Salvador Dalí, which is on permanent display. The French Wikipedia source specifies this as the 1950 version of the painting. Another significant work is Danseuse entendant jouer de l'orgue dans une cathédrale gothique, painted by Joan Miró on 26 May 1945. Among the designated Important Cultural Properties, the collection includes the Taisei fūzoku-globu byōbu (泰西風俗図屏風), a pair of folding screens depicting European landscapes, and the Namibunsui Shirakura (波文螺鈿鞍), a wooden saddle with mother-of-pearl inlay, both from the former Kuroda family holdings. The Buddhist art collection includes a Yakushi Nyorai statue from the Tōkōin, while the Matsunaga Memorial Hall donation features Ogata Kenzan's Hanabashizu (Blumenkörbe, or Flower Baskets) and Nonomura Ninsei's polychrome tea container with Yoshino mountain design.

The museum is situated in Ōhori Park (Ōhorikōen), a prominent public park in Fukuoka. The park setting provides a natural environment for the institution, though specific architectural details of the building itself are not documented in the available sources.

Fukuoka Art Museum is located in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, within Ōhori Park. It operates as a municipal museum under the city of Fukuoka. The museum maintains an official website at https://www.fukuoka-art-museum.jp/ and is also accessible through the Google Cultural Institute. Its current role encompasses both the permanent display of its collections and the organization of temporary exhibitions, including its signature Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale. The museum also maintains a connection with the Fukuoka Oriental Ceramics Museum, listed as a related institution.