Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo (三菱一号館美術館, Mitsubishi Ichigōkan Bijutsukan) is an art museum in Tokyo's Marunouchi district, specializing in 19th-century Western art. Opened on April 6, 2010, the museum occupies a faithful recreation of the original Mitsubishi Ichigokan, a landmark red-brick building designed by British architect Josiah Conder and completed in 1894. The museum distinguishes itself through its focus on French art of the 19th century and its notable holdings of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec works, while operating exclusively through special exhibitions rather than maintaining a publicly displayed permanent collection.

The museum's collection centers on 19th-century Western art, with particular strength in French works of the period. Its most significant holding is the Maurice Joyant collection, comprising over 200 works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, including original posters and color lithographs. The collection also encompasses approximately 100 original posters and color lithographs by other artists such as Pierre Bonnard and Paul Gauguin. Additional holdings include the John and Miyoko Unno Davey Collection, featuring approximately 180 pieces of porcelain in the Japonisme style, and a significant group of 180 woodcuts by Félix Vallotton, including the painting "Park in the Evening." The museum also maintains important literature on Japonisme. Despite these substantial holdings, the museum does not currently exhibit its permanent collection and instead organizes only special exhibitions, regularly supplemented by loans from other institutions.

The Maurice Joyant collection of Toulouse-Lautrec works represents the museum's signature holding, with over 200 pieces spanning the artist's graphic oeuvre. The museum's 2010 opening exhibition, "Manet and Modern Paris," established its institutional profile through collaboration with the Musée d'Orsay. Subsequent publications document special exhibitions that have ranged across Western and Japanese art histories, including "Ukiyo-e: Floating World from the Saito Collection" (2013), "Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Washington" (2015), "Kyosai: Master Painter and His Student Josiah Conder" (2015), "Paris Haute Couture" (2016), "Leonardo da Vinci e Michelangelo" (2017), "Impressionism and Beyond: Master Paintings from the Yoshino Gypsum Collection" (2019), "1894 Visions: Odilon Redon and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec" (2020), and "From Kiyochika to Hasui: Ukiyo-e and Shin-Hanga Woodblock Prints from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art" (2026).

The museum building is a meticulous reconstruction of Conder's 1894 original, executed in red brick and cast concrete. The structure comprises three above-ground stories and two basement levels, with a total floor area of 6,000 square meters. The exhibition spaces occupy approximately 800 square meters distributed across 20 relatively small rooms on three floors, following the original spatial configuration. Reproduced details include the staircase railings. The rear courtyard is landscaped as a green space for visitors. The building houses a shop and café in addition to the galleries. The reconstruction preserved the Marunouchi district's historic red-brick character, for which the area had been known since the Meiji period.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is locatedubin Tokyo's Marunouchi district, a central business and commercial area. The museum is operated by Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., the real estate arm of the Mitsubishi group. Visitors access the museum through its special exhibitions, as no permanent collection is on public display. The museum's website at https://mimt.jp/ provides current exhibition information. The institution ranks among the four major museums in central Tokyo, alongside the Bridgestone Museum of Art, the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, and the Mitsui Memorial Museum.