SOLD OUT online weeks in advance, Chichu Art Museum is another so-called MUST SEE places in Japan and especially active during the Setouchi Triennale. [ Ссылка ] it was constructed in 2004 as a site rethinking the relationship between nature and people. The museum was built mostly underground to avoid affecting the beautiful natural scenery of the Seto Inland sea. Artworks by Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria are on permanent display in this building designed by Tadao Ando. Despite being primarily subterranean, the museum lets in an abundance of natural light that changes the appearance of the artworks and the ambience of the space itself with the passage of time, throughout the day and all along the four seasons of the year.
Taking form as the artists and architect bounced ideas off each other, the museum in its entirety can be seen as a very large site-specific artwork.
Five paintings from the Water Lilies series produced by the great Impressionist painter Claude Monet in his later years can be enjoyed under natural light in the museum. The size of the room, its design and the materials used all were carefully selected to unite the Monet paintings with the surrounding space.
Next is the Science-Fiction style hall of Walter de Maria: the entire art space, containing a sphere 2.2 meters in diameter and 27 gilded wooden geometric forms, was created under the direction of Walter De Maria as an artwork. Viewers experience this space under the natural light coming in from the ceiling, producing dramatic changes in the room's illumination depending on the hour.
Next, Artist James Turrell:
Light itself is presented as art in James Turrell's work. The three artworks on display were selected amongst Turrell’s representative series and span his entire career., enabling visitors to experience the changes in his work throughout the years.
Open Sky (2004) is on view during the museum's regular opening hours, but a special sunset viewing, Night Program, is also available. Click here for more information on the Night Program.
