SOMPO美術館

The Sompo Museum of Art is located in the Nishi-Shinjuku district of Tokyo, right next to the headquarters of the insurance group Sompo Japan Nipponkoa. The institution was founded in 1976 by the insurer Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance, as it was then known, to give the neighborhood, which is dominated by many new office buildings, a cultural boost. The core of the collection came from a generous donation by the Japanese painter Seiji Tōgō, who gave the museum more than two hundred of his own works as well as numerous pieces by other artists. Originally housed on the 44th floor of the high-rise, the museum also offered visitors sweeping views over the city at the time. Over the years the museum's name changed several times before it adopted its current name in April 2020. In July 2020, the museum moved into a new six-story building next to the company headquarters.

Today the collection comprises more than six hundred works of modern and contemporary art from Japan, Europe, and North America. A particular focus is on the work of Seiji Tōgō, whose paintings, drawings, lithographs, and sculptures from 1914 to 1977 make up a large part of the holdings. His works show influences of Cubism, Surrealism, and Western painting. Alongside Tōgō, works by Japanese artists such as Tsuguharu Foujita and Kenzo Okada are on display. The collection is internationally renowned above all for three masterpieces acquired at auction between 1987 and 1990: a version of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers, a painting by Paul Gauguin, and a still life by Paul Cézanne. These three masterpieces hang permanently in a dedicated room behind security glass.

In addition to its permanent exhibits, the museum regularly organizes high-caliber special exhibitions that often focus on Western art movements or individual artists. The works shown include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Grandma Moses, of whom the museum owns thirty-three works. Once a year, the museum also awards a prize for contemporary artists, which comes with a solo exhibition. In this way, the Sompo Museum of Art offers a broad look at international art history, from French modernism to the Japanese avant-garde.