September means we’re finally at the arrival of geijutsu no aki — Japan’s cherished autumn art season. This year’s calendar is kicking off on a high note: a truly rare opportunity to see historic paintings from the Louvre’s stunning Renaissance Art collection, on loan at The National Art Center; Nigel Cooke’s evocative abstractions of Venice at Azabudai’s Pace Gallery; a survey of the Taiwanese avant-garde during the 1930s, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
Here are eight standout art exhibitions to catch in Tokyo this September, plus an option for day-trippers in Hakone.
9 Must-See Exhibitions in September
Masterpieces of the Renaissance from the Musée du Louvre
One of the most highly-anticipated exhibitions of this fall is The National Art Center, Tokyo’s display of more than 50 standout works from the Paris’ Musée du Louvre. Highlighting the museum’s renowned Renaissance collection, it captures a pivotal shift in Western art history: when painters began moving away from the Medieval period’s two-dimensional devotional imagery to a more humanist approach. Using shadow, depth and realistic proportions, they depicted everyday landscapes and people, in addition to mythological and biblical scenes that were increasingly naturalistic and emotionally driven.
The centerpiece of the show is Leonardo da Vinci’s Portrait of a Woman (La Belle Ferronnière), making its first-ever appearance in Japan. In the piece, the artist captures the subtle, flickering interiority of the subject, rather than painting a static, distant likeness. Divided into four thematic sections — travel, technical innovation, classical revival and portraiture — the exhibition is a rare window into how the world’s most famous art institution documents this transformative movement.
Where: The National Art Center, Tokyo (Location)
When: September 9–December 13, 2026 (Closed Tuesdays except Sept 22, Nov 3 and Dec 8. Closed Nov 4)
Price: Advance ¥2,200 | Door ¥2,400
Ann Veronica Janssens: ‘5 Chome 4-1 Ginza, Tokyo’
Brussels-based artist Ann Veronica Janssens brings her first Japan solo exhibition to the iconic Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum, transforming the glass-walled space through light, air and subtle disorientation. Working with elements like mist, sound and projected color alongside industrial materials, Janssens crafts environments that question how the body perceives space, time and form.
Named directly after the gallery’s physical location, the show features around ten works designed in dialogue with the building’s architecture and shifting light conditions. Highlights include “Rose” (2007), which projects beams through dense mist to create the illusion of a solid, glowing light-sculpture; “Swings” (2000–2023), which applies heat-reactive film to suspended seats; “Untitled (blue glitter),” light-reflecting microparticles that compose an iridescent puddle on the gallery floor; and “Donut,” a new work made for the show.
Where: Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum (Location)
When: September 11, 2026–January 11, 2027 (Closed Wednesdays)
Price: Free
Zigsen Liu: ‘Stellar Axis’
As a digital native who witnessed the rapid rise of the internet, smart cities and AI, Chinese artist Zigsen Liu uses his practice to question how technological acceleration is rewiring human perception. Drawing on a background in both sculpture and painting, Liu brings nine new large-scale works to Harajuku that feel part Cubist, part Expressionist and part psychedelic.
The artist’s first solo exhibition in Japan pivots between two distinct approaches: ethereal “cosmic paintings” and Liu’s signature “double-sided paintings.” The latter features overlapping gradient brushstrokes to build a sense of eerie, moving depth while maintaining its compositional coherence. Mythological figures, natural landscapes and modern motifs collide across the works presented, prompting viewers to decode their meanings, as though looking at star charts.
Where: Nanzuka Underground (Location)
When: August 29–September 26, 2026 (Closed Sun and Mon)
Price: Free
Tada Minami: ‘Still, Shimmering Light’
A pioneer of postwar Japanese abstract art, Minami Tada (1924–2014) spent nearly seven decades challenging the idea that sculpture should be heavy, static or bound to traditional gallery spaces. Embracing the rapid industrial growth of 1960s Japan, Minami used industrial materials like stainless steel, acrylic and glass — not to craft rigid monuments, but to treat light itself as a material that reflects, refracts and reshapes the surrounding environment. Her works can be seen in destinations such as the Imperial Hotel Tokyo and Rihga Royal Hotel Osaka.
This comprehensive survey gathers roughly 70 pieces spanning her extensive career, from early paintings to her iconic “lighting sculptures” and architectural installations. It’s a must-see retrospective for design lovers, highlighting how she bridged fine art, product design and urban architecture, bringing beauty to public spaces across Japan.
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Location)
When: August 29–December 6, 2026 (Closed Mondays except Sept 21, Oct 12 and Nov 23. Closed Sept 22, Oct 13 and Nov 24)
Price: ¥1,600
Synchronic Constellation: Cross-Boundary Perspectives in Art
Another must-see while you’re at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is this survey of the Taiwanese avant-garde in the 1930s. Guest-curated by filmmaker Huang Ya-li, the show re-evaluates the shared cultural modernity of Taiwan and Japan. It expands on his acclaimed documentary Le Moulin (2015), which followed a collective of colonial-era poets writing surrealist verse in Japanese, by translating the film’s reflections and style into gallery space. Artworks, literature, cinema, music and theater coalesce, mapping various modes of intercultural exchange.
The exhibition brings together roughly 200 Taiwanese artworks, 100 contemporaneous Japanese pieces and over 500 archival documents sourced from major institutions like the Tainan Art Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and beyond. You’ll see works by foundational modern Taiwanese figures like Chen Cheng-po, Huang Tu-shui and Lin Yu-shan alongside Japanese peers, offering a fresh and decentered vantage point on how Asian modernism was shaped through shared creative dialogue.
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Location)
When: September 5–December 13, 2026 (Closed Mondays except Sept 21, Oct 12 and Nov 23. Closed Sept 22, Oct 13 and Nov 24)
Price: ¥2,000
Nigel Cooke, The Island, 2026 © Nigel Cooke
Nigel Cooke: ‘Night Ruins’
Known for his evocative blend of figuration and elemental abstraction, British painter Nigel Cooke brings a series of nocturnal Venetian landscapes to Tokyo for his first solo exhibition in Japan. You’ll see small-scale, highly atmospheric works created during Cooke’s recent residency at the historic Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, where he immersed himself in the floating city’s unique composition of light, stone and water.
Rather than capturing classic Venetian vistas, the paintings present stage-like spaces filled with repeating shapes, stone platforms and organic forms that seem to dissolve into — or emerge from — the dark lagoon. Drawing inspiration from Renaissance painters — Tintoretto’s fluid brushwork and Giovanni Bellini’s theatricality — Cooke treats each canvas like a window into his process, layering figures, animals and abstract linework. Accompanying the Venice series is a collection of rich, opaque watercolors created in Formentera, Spain. The paints used here incorporate actual seawater, tying Cooke’s abstractions to their Mediterranean environment in a literal sense.
Where: Pace Gallery (Location)
When: August 28–October 10, 2026 (Closed Sun and Mon)
Price: Free
courtesy of Galerie Taménaga
Takanori Oguiss and Maurice Utrillo: ‘Captivating Cityscapes’
Before Tokyo was a global hub for Western art, Galerie Taménaga — one of the city’s pioneering galleries bridging Western and Japanese art — built a lasting relationship with two 20th-century masters: Japanese expat Takanori Oguiss and French painter Maurice Utrillo. Gallery founder Kiyoshi Tamenaga maintained a close 30-year friendship with Oguiss, and helped bring Utrillo’s first major retrospective to Japan in 1967. Drawing on these histories, the gallery is celebrating the two painters in a special joint retrospective.
Gathering 25 oil paintings, it traces how the two artists spent their careers capturing the unvarnished beauty and character of streets across Europe — the windswept lanes of Montmartre, the shifting light of Venetian canals and beyond. Featuring rich textures and a keen sensitivity to changing seasons, the show pairs Oguiss’s grounded eye with Utrillo’s poetic nostalgia, offering an intimate look at two contemporaries’ visual worlds.
Where: Galerie Taménaga Tokyo (Location)
When: September 5–27, 2026
Price: Free
The New Vision: Monet and the Contemporary Gaze
Set in the forests of Hakone, a two-hour journey outside Tokyo, the Pola Museum of Art’s current exhibition is a great choice for art lovers looking to escape the city for a day. Marking both the centenary of Claude Monet’s passing and the museum’s 25th anniversary, the exhibition is displaying 19 of its Monet oil paintings — one of the largest collections of its kind in Asia — alongside works by 18 contemporary artists from around the world.
Spanning Monet’s career from early riverfront scenes and Venetian waterscapes to his later Water Lilies, the show traces Monet’s radical approach to light, movement and perspective. His bold, almost cinematic compositions — which prefigured camera zooms, aerial views and shifting temporalities — are set in conversation with modern installations, photography and sculpture by artists like Roni Horn, Wolfgang Tillmans, Pierre Huyghe and Fujiko Nakaya. Bridging 19th-century Impressionism with present-day reflections on ecology and perception, it’s a stunning depiction of how Monet’s ways of seeing have endured and evolved.
Where: Pola Museum of Art (Location)
When: June 17,2026–April 7, 2027
Price: ¥2,200
Everything Else On in Tokyo This September
Human and Nature: Yuichi Hirako Exhibition
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya Hall will exhibit the art of Yuichi Hirako, and his depictions of mysterious beings where plants and humans are united.
| Date & Time | Sep 5-Oct 18・Individual events and workshops have separate schedules |
| Price | ¥2000 |
| Location | Tokyo Midtown Hibiya, 6th Floor Hall |
Moon Art Night Shimokitazawa 2026
The 5th edition of Moon Art Night Shimokitazawa will return, inviting locals and visitors to explore a stunning collection of moon-themed artworks, immersive theater and community events scattered across the neighborhood.
| Date & Time | Sep 18-Oct 4・The "Shimokitazawa Railway Street Vacant Lot" exhibition can be enjoyed until 9:30 p.m. Availability times for event food and merchandise may vary by store |
| Price | starting at ¥1200 |
| Location | Shimokitazawa Railway Street and throughout neighborhood |
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…
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.
| Date & Time | Mar 19-Sep 13・12–8 p.m. |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo |
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) |
Picasso, Through the Eyes of Paul Smith
Pablo Picasso never settled into a single way of seeing. He moved restlessly — from the deep blues of grief to the splintered geometry of cubism, into ceramics, sculpture, theater and the unflinching protest of “Guernica.”This exhibition looks at all of that through an unexpected lens. British designer Paul Smith, drawing on the collection of the Musée national Picasso-Paris, has designed the layout himself — and the result is full of color and small, delightful surprises. Around 80 works, including “Portrait of a Man” from the Blue Period and “Paul as Harlequin,” unfold in a loose, easy chronology rather than a strict progression.It builds on “Picasso Celebration: The Collection in a New Light!” — the 2023 Paris show marking 50 years since the artist’s death — now traveling internationally, reimagined here as a space that feels playful, personal and alive.
| Date & Time | Jun 10-Sep 21・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Closed Tue and August 12, open August 11. Open until 20:00 Fri & Sat. |
| Price | ¥2,400 |
| Location | The National Art Center, Tokyo |
Mikiko Hara, from the series Periphery of Speech, 2004. Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum Collection: Tomorrow’s Dining Table
The act of eating is inseparable from the act of living, acting as a powerful lens that brings our personal memories and social ties into sharp focus. The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum explores this profound relationship in “Tomorrow’s Dining Table,” the latest installment of its ongoing TOP Collection series.
| Date & Time | Jul 2-Sep 21・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Open until 8 p.m. on Thur & Fri |
| Price | ¥700 |
| Location | Tokyo Photographic Art Museum |
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 |
Hasegawa Kiyoshi: The Trajectory of a Paris-Based Printmaker
Kiyoshi Hasegawa left Japan for Paris after WWI and revived mezzotint printmaking there, running with Matisse, Picasso and Chagall's circle. This exhibition draws rarely-seen work spanning his six-decade career.
| Date & Time | Jul 11-Sep 23・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Closed Wednesdays except September 23; closed from August 10–14 |
| Price | ¥1,200 |
| Location | Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art |
Artists at the Café: From the Impressionists, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec to Picasso
Long before they were textbook fixtures, iconic painters like Édouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec gathered in the smoky haze of Montmartre’s cafes, cabarets and dance halls. This exhibition celebrates this vibrant, frequently overlooked subculture through roughly 130 masterpieces.
| Date & Time | Jun 13-Sep 23・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Open until 20:00 Fri. Closed Mondays except national holidays and “talk free” days on June 29, July 27 and August 31. |
| Price | ¥2,300 |
| Location | Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo |
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, "The Hundred Guildens" circa 1648. Etching, drypoint, burin on Japanese paper. National Museum of Western Art.
Rembrandt the Etcher: His Challenges and His Impact
The first large-scale survey of Rembrandt’s prints to ever arrive in Japan, the exhibition follows both that breakthrough and the centuries of influence it set in motion. Some 130 works will be on display, among them the National Museum of Western Art’s own famed “The Hundred Guilder Print” and “The Three Trees.”
| Date & Time | Jul 7-Sep 23・9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.・Open until 20:00 Fri & Sat. Closed Mondays except July 20, August 10 and September 21; closed July 21. |
| Price | ¥2,200 |
| Location | The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo |
Rampage by Danilo Kato Exhibition
UltraSuperNew Kura gallery will host an exhibition by artist Danilo Kato, featuring the personification of thoughts and memories.
| Date & Time | Aug 28-Sep 25・Tuesday–Friday by appointment only, Saturday open to all from 11:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m., Closed on Sunday and Monday |
| Price | Free |
| Location | UltraSuperNew KURA |
Janu Tokyo x Jean Jullien: "The Guests"
From July 1 through September 30, 2026, Janu Tokyo in Azabudai Hills transforms into a vibrant, gallery-like space for "The Guests," an exclusive summer collaboration with renowned French artist Jean Jullien. Designed to spark curiosity and joy during the hot summer months, the hotel seamlessly integrates Jullien's iconic "Paper People" — ten colorful, flat and delightfully quirky character installations placed throughout the property. Visitors are invited to explore the public spaces, discovering nine distinct figures scattered across locations like the main reception, Janu Mercato and the boutique, while a tenth character awaits exclusively in the private pool area for staying guests.
| Date & Time | Jul 1-Sep 30 |
| Price | Room rates vary |
| Location | Janu Tokyo |
Hatena Exhibition of Questions
The Hatena exhibition is an exhibition of questions, visualizing people's differences and similarities based on various questions.
| Date & Time | Jun 27-Sep 30・10 a.m.–9 p.m.・Last entry at 8:00 p.m., On the last day only: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (last entry 6:30 p.m.) |
| Price | Weekdays: ¥1800 | Weekends: ¥2100 |
| Location | Seibu Shibuya, Basement Floor |
100% Doraemon & Friends in Tokyo
Billed as one of the largest exhibitions ever staged around Doraemon, this show covers the manga, the anime and the feature-length stories in full.
| Date & Time | Mar 27-Sep 30・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・10 a.m.–6 p.m. (last entry 5 p.m.) |
| Price | Advance: Adults ¥2,200 weekdays / ¥2,400 weekends, holidays and selected dates; High school and junior high students ¥1,600 / ¥1,800; Children (4 to elementary age) ¥1,400 / ¥1,600. Standard: Adults ¥2,400 / ¥2,600; High school and junior high students ¥1,800 / ¥2,000; Children ¥1,600 / ¥1,800. Same-day tickets also sold on site — see the official site |
| Location | Tokyo Dream Park |
Man Ray, Giant Chess Set, 1961. Installation view, c. 1961. Photo by Jacqueline Hyde.
Take Ninagawa: Man Ray
Take Ninagawa highlights this multidimensional practice with a solo exhibition that centers on one of Man Ray’s most enduring obsessions: the game of chess. Building on recent global retrospectives like the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2025–26 showcase, this exhibition explores how chess served not just as a thematic subject, but as a dynamic structural framework for his art — a site where logic, strategy, chance and desire collide.
| Date & Time | Aug 1-Oct 3・11 a.m.–7 p.m.・Closed Sun, Mon and Holidays; Summer holiday closure August 9–17 |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Take Ninagawa |
Takiguchi Shuzo: Writing and Drawing
This exhibition poses a fundamental question: for a man who spent a lifetime engaging with the world through the written word, what did it mean to suddenly communicate through lines, watercolor and ink? This show marks the first major public unveiling of the Ishibashi Foundation’s recently acquired Takiguchi collection, putting roughly 80 of his experimental, multimedia works on display.
| Date & Time | Jun 23-Oct 4・10 a.m.–6 p.m.・Open until 8 p.m. Fridays. Closed Mondays except July 20 & Sept. 21, and on July 21 & Sept. 24 |
| Price | ¥1,200 |
| Location | Artizon Museum |
On the Asymmetry of the Universe at teamLab Borderless
Tokyo’s teamLab Borderless has unveiled On the Asymmetry of the Universe, an exhibition celebrating the reopening of the museum’s Light Sculpture – Flow artwork space.
| Date & Time | Jul 8-Oct 8・8:30 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Price | ¥3,600–¥5,600 |
| Location | teamlab borderless: Mori Building Digital Art Museum |
| More Info | ¥2,800 for children aged 13-17; ¥1.500 for children aged 4 to 12; Children aged 3 and under are free. |
Ufan Lee, Untitled, 1979. Photo by Nobutada Omote
Lee Ufan: Work on Paper / Sculpture
Scai The Bathhouse is hosting Lee’s first solo gallery show in Tokyo in four years. Bringing together drawings and sculptures from the 1970s through recent years, this show offers a clear entry point into his quiet, contemplative practice across paper and three-dimensional media. You’ll see charcoal and watercolor works on paper, along with pieces from his celebrated Relatum Sculpture series, which place natural river stones beside industrial iron plates.
| Date & Time | Aug 4-Oct 10・12–6 p.m.・Closed Sun, Mon and Holidays, and August 8–17 |
| Price | Free |
| Location | Scai The Bathhouse |
Scenery of a Refreshing Breeze: Victorian Paintings and French Impressionism
By pairing Victorian-era British painters with French Impressionist pioneers, the exhibition offers a soothing look back at natural landscapes and human life just as the modern world was beginning to accelerate. On the British side, you’ll find idyllic, detailed landscapes by Benjamin Williams Leader alongside gentle portraits by Charles Edward Perugini — images that offered 19th-century viewers a peaceful escape from urban sprawl. On the French side, the works displayed trace the birth of Impressionism itself.
| Date & Time | Jun 16-Oct 12・10 a.m.–5 p.m.・Closed Mondays |
| Price | ¥1,400 |
| Location | Matsuoka Museum of Art |
Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani: Ambient Kyoto - Tokyo Exhibition
The Ambient Kyoto exhibition will be held in Tokyo for the first time, featuring "async - immersion" by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani.
| Date & Time | Aug 28-Oct 25 |
| Price | starting at ¥2200 |
| Location | Azabudai Hills Gallery |
| More Info | Free admission for high school students and younger, and for persons with disabilities |
Nam June Paik: The 20th Anniversary of his Passing
Long before smartphones, AI or even color TV were household realities, Korean artist Nam June Paik (1932–2006) was already using monitors, cameras and electronic signals to rethink what art could be. Marking two decades since the media art pioneer’s passing, Watarium is taking a deep look back at his legacy.
| Date & Time | Jul 19-Nov 23・11 a.m.–7 p.m.・Closed Mondays except July 20, Sept. 21, Oct. 12 and Nov. 23 |
| Price | ¥1,500 |
| Location | Watarium |
Sanrio Characters Exhibition Hotel Floria Tokyo
Korea's hit Sanrio interactive exhibition will come to Tokyo, immersing fans into a cute hotel concept with themed rooms and special effects.
| Date & Time | Jul 15, 2026-May 31, 2027・10 a.m.–8 p.m.・last admission at 7:30 p.m. |
| Price | (weekdays) General and university students: ¥2400 | High school and junior high school students: ¥1600 | Elementary school students and younger: ¥1000 |
| Location | Tokyu Kabukicho Tower |
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Updated On September 2, 2026
