The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (東京国立近代美術館, Tōkyō Kokuritsu Kindai Bijutsukan), commonly known as MOMAT, is Japan's foremost institution dedicated to collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art. Located in Kitanomaru Park in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, the museum holds a preeminent collection of 20th-century art encompassing both Western-style (Yōga) and Japanese-style (Nihonga) works. Established in 1952 as the first national art museum in Japan, MOMAT operates under the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art and maintains a branch institution, the National Crafts Museum, in Kanazawa.

MOMAT was established on June 6, 1952, under the governance of the Ministry of Education, making it the first national art museum in Japan. The museum originally opened in Kyobashi, in the Chūō ward, occupying the former headquarters of the Nikkatsu Corporation. The original building was redesigned by architect Kunio Maekawa. The museum expanded twice through the acquisition of neighboring properties. In 1969, MOMAT relocated to its present site in Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda, moving into a new building designed by Yoshirō Taniguchi. This building was renovated in 2001. The museum also formerly housed the National Film Center, which became independent in April 2018 and was elevated to national museum status as the National Film Archive of Japan. In 1977, the museum opened the Kōgeikan Crafts Gallery as an annex; this was relocated to Kanazawa in 2020 as part of a Japanese government policy to revitalize regional areas, reopening in 2021 as the National Crafts Museum.

The permanent collection comprises more than 14,000 works spanning paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, videos, and multimedia pieces. The collection's core strength lies in modern Japanese art from the Meiji period to the present, with particular depth in works from the late nineteenth century onward. The museum holds significant holdings of Western-style and Nihonga painting, sculpture, and works on paper. A notable component is the Matsukata Collection, comprising approximately 8,000 ukiyo-e woodblock prints that Kōjirō Matsukata gathered from abroad beginning in the early twentieth century; the 1925 exhibition of these prints is considered the first of its kind in Japan. The collection also includes contemporary Western prints and works by international artists. Among its specialized archives, the museum preserves approximately 600 artworks, sketches, diaries, letters, and other materials belonging to the painter Ryūsei Kishida, and roughly 3,000 drawings by the sculptor Isamu Wakabayashi. Additionally, the collection holds 153 paintings documenting the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. Eighteen works in the collection have been designated as Important Cultural Properties, including twelve Nihonga paintings, five oil paintings, and one sculpture.

The museum's collection features major works by preeminent Japanese artists across multiple media. In Nihonga, significant holdings include works by Hishida Shunsō, Kawai Gyokudō, Murakami Kagaku, Nakamura Tsune, Kaburagi Kiyokata, Tsuchida Bakusen, Uemura Shōen, Yokoyama Taikan, Yasuda Yukihiko, and Kobayashi Kokei. The Western-style painting collection includes works by Ebihara Kinosuke, Kishida Ryūsei, Yorozu Tetsugorō, Hasegawa Toshiyuki, Umehara Ryūzaburō, and Yasui Sōtarō. Sculptors represented include Shinkai Taketarō and Tomonori Toyofuku. The collection also encompasses international contemporary artists such as Miyawaki Aiko, Abraham David Christian, Domoto Hisao, Leiko Ikemura, Miyako Ishiuchi, Isamu Noguchi, and Kusama Yayoi. Among Western works, the collection includes pieces by Paul Cézanne, Henri Rousseau, Alfred Stieglitz, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Tsugouharu Foujita, Pierre Bonnard, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Barbara Hepworth, and Francis Bacon. Specific notable works include Cézanne's Grand Bouquet de fleurs (circa 1892-1895), Rousseau's La Liberté invitant les artistes à prendre part à la 22e exposition des Indépendants (1905-1906), Matisse's Renée, harmonie verte (1905-1906), Foujita's Autoportrait (1929), O'Keeffe's Hollyhock White and Green with Pedernal (1937), Picasso's Plage à La Garoupe (1955), and Bacon's Sphinx-Portrait of Muriel Belcher (1979).

The museum's present building in Kitanomaru Park, Chiyoda, was designed by Yoshirō Taniguchi and opened in 1969, with a renovation completed in 2001. This structure replaced the original Kyobashi facility. The Kitanomaru Park location places the museum near the former Edo Castle grounds and the唱 the Marunouchi business district. The original 1952 building in Chūō was subsequently repurposed to house the National Film Center after the museum's relocation Integral relocation. The Crafts Gallery annex, opened in 1977, was housed in the former Imperial Guards Division headquarters building within Kitanomaru Park before its 2020 relocation. The neighboring building to the main museum houses the National Archives.