Tokyo’s art scene is extensive and vibrant, and there’s always so much to see. Whether you want to see some traditional Japanese art or a modern exhibit, here’s a list of exhibitions happening in Tokyo that are worth checking out.
October Tokyo Art Events
Monsters by Monsters: Now and Then - Pop Mart Exhibition
Pop Mart will hold an exhibition celebrating 10th years of "The Monsters," the series that includes the globally popular character Labubu.
| Date & Time | Jun 11-Jul 5・10 a.m.–7 p.m.・Last entry at 18:00 |
| Price | ¥2500 |
| Location | Azabudai Hills Gallery |
| More Info | Advance tickets open on May 25 |
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Extinction Exhibition
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo will host an exhibition with renowned Japanese photographer and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto.
| Date & Time | Jun 16-Sep 13・10 a.m.–5 p.m.・Last admission 30 minutes before closing, Fridays and Saturdays open until 8:00 p.m. |
| Price | General: ¥2300, University students: ¥1200, High school students: ¥700 |
| Location | The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo |
| More Info | Admission is free for individuals aged 15 and under, and individuals with a disability plus one companion (ID is required) |
Glad We Came - Nodoka Yamaura Exhibition
UltraSuperNew Kura art gallery will host a special exhibition with pattern artist Nodoka Yamaura titled, "Glad We Came."
| Date & Time | Jun 27-Jul 24・Reservations are required Tuesday-Friday, Walk-ins available on Saturday (11:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.), closed Sunday and Monday |
| Price | Free |
| Location | UltraSuperNew KURA |
| More Info | Opening reception on June 26 (6:30 p.m.) |
Mathilde Denize, "Contours" (2026). Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
Mathilde Denize: Time and Light
French artist Mathilde Denize brings a tactile, physical energy to her first Japanese solo exhibition at Perrotin Tokyo. Known for a process that involves cutting up her old canvases and sewing them back together, Denize treats painting as a form of construction. In her new series, Contours, she moves away from using outside objects like leather or shells to focus on the paint itself, building her surfaces using pigments salvaged from film sets and advertising shoots, layering hazy pinks, golden yellows and rich purples to create a sense of history. The structural thinking behind these works echoes the ideas of Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, who treated words like physical objects — placing them on a page to fragment the reader’s pace. Denize applies this to the gallery itself, hanging her canvases in a single horizontal line to create a rhythm that feels like a musical score. This approach also connects to the modernism of painter Sonia Delaunay, who used color relationships to create a visual beat. Rather than simply reenacting these historical styles, Denize engages with the questions they left unfinished.
| Date & Time | Mar 24-Jun 27・11 a.m.–7 p.m.・Closed Sundays & Mondays |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Perrotin Tokyo |
Yokai Immersive Experience Exhibition Tokyo
Warehouse Terrada will host an immersive exhibit inspired by the monsters/spirits of Japanese folklore, combining art with special effects.
| Date & Time | Mar 27-Jun 28・~8 p.m.・last entry at 19:30; The final day (June 28) is open until 17:00 (final entrance 16:30) |
| Price | adults: ¥2600, seniors: ¥2500, university and high school students: ¥1800, junior high school students and under: ¥800, |
| Location | Warehouse Terrada |
| More Info | Guests who present a disability certificate can get a discounted ticket |
Leica Gallery Omotesando © Teresa Freitas
Teresa Freitas: Meeting Point
For Portuguese photographer Teresa Freitas, color is the whole point. It’s the thing that holds her images together — shaping space, drawing the eye and pulling together places that have nothing else in common. Her work moves freely between street, documentary and fine art photography, building a visual language all its own. “Meeting Point,” on view at Leica Gallery Omotesando, pairs photographs taken in distant parts of the world — loosely framed as East and West — and presents them side by side. Each pairing turns on a kind of visual rhyme: a shade of blue in one place echoing the same blue thousands of miles away, a curve of architecture finding its match across an ocean, until the distance between them begins to dissolve. Drawn from years of accumulated images, the work shows how photographic memory builds over time, and how the eye can find unexpected connections across the world.
| Date & Time | Apr 2-Jun 28・11 a.m.–7 p.m.・Closed Mondays |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Leica Gallery Omotesando |
Heisei Ren-Ai Exhibition
Roppongi Museum's new Heisei romance exhibition will explore the nostalgic after-school days of the past, with over 3000 displayed items.
| Date & Time | Apr 7-Jun 28・Monday to Thursday 10:00-18:00 (last entry at 17:30) | Friday to Sunday (and during Golden Week): 10:00-20:00 (last entry at 19:30) |
| Price | General: ¥2200 | Junior high and high school students: ¥1800 | Elementary school students: ¥1300 |
| Location | Roppongi Museum |
| More Info | Guests who present a disability certificate can get a discounted ticket |
Minato City Toy Pictures Exhibition
The Minato City Local History Museum's exhibition on omocha-e, or "Toy Pictures," will show children's artwork from the Edo and Meiji eras.
| Date & Time | Apr 25-Jun 28・~5 p.m.・Last admission is 30 minutes before closing |
| Price | General: ¥200, High school students and younger: ¥100 |
| Location | Minato City Local History Museum |
Urs Fischer, "Mirror" (2026). Installation View. Courtesy of Fergus McCaffrey
Urs Fischer: Spot the Difference
Urs Fischer’s works move between high culture and kitsch, the permanent and the fleeting, the serious and the absurd — often within the same piece. “Spot the Difference,” his first exhibition at Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo, takes its cue from the gallery itself: a finished space upstairs, an unfinished sub-basement below. The split became a way to think about the conscious and unconscious mind. Upstairs, two life-size wax self-portraits face each other through a roughly cut hole in the wall. Lit on opening day, they are slowly melting over the course of the show before being recast and begun again. Downstairs, Rorschach-like wallpaper of concrete holes and patches wraps the entire space, populated with painted bronze sculptures and drawings. Born in Zurich in 1973, Fischer lives and works in Los Angeles. The exhibition marks the first showing of his Candle portraits in Japan.
| Date & Time | Apr 11-Jul 4・11 a.m.–7 p.m.・Closed Sundays & Mondays |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo |
Andrew Wyeth: Boundaries or Windows
Born in 1917, Andrew Wyeth is widely considered one of America’s most beloved painters. While many artists of his time were chasing bold new movements like Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, Wyeth went his own way; he stayed close to home, painting the people, houses and fields he knew best in rural Pennsylvania and coastal Maine. But his paintings are never just pretty pictures of the countryside. Look closely, and you’ll find something deeper — everyday moments charged with feeling, memory and a sense of life’s fragility. Wyeth had a particular fascination with windows, doors and other thresholds. These ordinary details became something more in his hands: gentle reminders of the line between the familiar and the unknown, between life and what lies beyond.
| Date & Time | Apr 28-Jul 5・9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.・Closed May 7, and on Mondays except May 4 and June 29 |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum |
Eric Carle, Illustration for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Collection of the Eric and Barbara Carle Foundation. © 1969, 1987 Penguin Random House LLC.
Eric Carle: Art, Books and the Caterpillar
Few picture books have been loved by as many children as The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Created by American author Eric Carle, it has been translated into more than 70 languages and passed down through generations. At its heart is a simple but memorable message: a tiny caterpillar nibbles its way through the world and grows into a beautiful butterfly. It’s a story about hope, change and becoming who you’re meant to be. Marking the 50th anniversary of the book’s Japanese publication, this exhibition brings together around 180 works, including precious original illustrations and handmade “book dummies” that show how Carle’s ideas first took shape on paper. You’ll also see early pieces from his days as a graphic designer — the foundation for the playful, interactive picture books he would later become famous for.
| Date & Time | Apr 25-Jul 26・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Closed May 7 & July 21, and on Mondays except May 4 and July 20 |
| Price | ¥1,600-¥2,300 |
| Location | Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo |
Grand Van Gogh Exhibition
Van Gogh's timeless masterpiece, "Café Terrace at Night," will come to Japan for the first time in 20 years, exhibiting his art evolution.
| Date & Time | May 29-Aug 12・Sunday to Thursday: 9:00-17:30 | Friday, Saturday and public holidays: 9:00-19:00 | Admission until 30 minutes before closing |
| Price | General: ¥2800 | University and high school students: ¥1600 | Junior high and elementary school students: ¥1000 |
| Location | The Ueno Royal Museum |
| More Info | Free admission for high school students and younger until June 30 |
Invitation from Hogwarts at Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo
The Making of Harry Potter presents “Invitation from Hogwarts,” a limited-time experience running from March 18 to September 6, 2026.
| Date & Time | Mar 18-Sep 6・8:30 a.m.–7 p.m. |
| Price | ¥6,300 |
| Location | Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo |
Rina Banerjee, "A woman must keep moving…" (2022). Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.
Rina Banerjee: "You made me leave home…
Stepping into Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo feels like entering a series of mystical, layered environments built from an extraordinary array of found objects. Indian-American artist Rina Banerjee gathers items from across the globe — such as ostrich eggs, vintage glass chandeliers, copper threads and medicinal powders — and weaves them into sculptures that feel both ancient and modern. While her work directly confronts the legacies of colonialism, she does so through a lens of humor and striking beauty, creating a space where the viewer is simultaneously charmed and challenged. This exhibition, which marks the 20th anniversary of Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo and a decade of the Fondation’s international “Hors-les-murs” program, features 19 works that explore the fluid nature of identity. A highlight of the show is a monumental installation inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days, featuring a massive dome from which a cascade of objects is suspended. The exhibition also features Banerjee’s 2025 painting series, which integrates South Asian motifs and iconography to create female figures that echo the presence of Hindu goddesses.
| Date & Time | Mar 19-Sep 13・12–8 p.m. |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo |
Ron Mueck Exhibition
Ron Mueck, a contemporary artist, will hold an exhibition at the Mori Art Museum with figurative sculptures that reflect life and mortality.
| Date & Time | Apr 29-Sep 23・10 a.m.–10 p.m.・Tuesdays: 10:00-17:00 | Open until 22:00 on May 5, August 11 and September 22 | Admission until 30 minutes before closing |
| Price | Adults: ¥2500 | University and high school students: ¥1500 | Seniors: ¥2000 | Junior high school students and under: free |
| Location | Mori Art Museum |
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Updated On October 4, 2024
