7 best art exhibitions showing in Osaka and Kyoto right now

Emerging in the wake of the Margaret Thatcher era, the Young British Artists (YBAs) and their contemporaries embraced shock, irreverence and entrepreneurial flair. While the YBA label (applied after the landmark 1988 ‘Freeze’ exhibition organised by Damien Hirst) was often contested, it came to define a generation that reimagined what art could be. Painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation all became tools for probing themes of identity, consumer culture and shifting social structures. 

‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’ is the first exhibition in Japan devoted exclusively to British art of the 1990s. It debuted in Tokyo earlier this year before arriving at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art. Featuring around 90 works by some 50 artists, the show captures a turbulent and transformative period in British culture, when politics, society and art collided to spark a wave of radical experimentation.

Highlights include works by Hirst, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid, Wolfgang Tillmans and Julian Opie...

One of the world’s most renowned design houses, Marimekko is beloved for its iconic style combining joyous prints with vibrant colours. Since its inception in 1951, the Finnish brand has produced more than 3,500 original prints, and its signature cheery designs can be found across all aspects of modern lifestyle from fashion to homeware.

This two-year touring exhibition takes a deep dive into the brand’s heritage, aesthetics and creative vision. It opens in Kyoto before travelling to other cities in Japan, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum in October. Through a diverse collection of artworks, textiles and dresses across the decades, the exhibition sheds light on Marimekko’s design approach as well as its printmaking techniques. 

Highlights include a video installation by multidisciplinary art and design collective plaplax, which uses digital projection to showcase Marimekko's Print Factory in Helsinki...

Studio Ghibli has such an enduring appeal that anything bearing its name is bound to succeed. Ghibli Park is a prime example. This immersive attraction is easily the studio’s crown jewel, as it brings the anime house’s beloved universe and heartfelt storytelling to life.

Back in 2022, to coincide with the park’s highly anticipated opening, the ‘Ghibli Park and Ghibli Exhibition’ toured ten venues across Japan, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at the park’s concept and creation. The travelling exhibition was a massive hit, drawing approximately 1.7 million visitors at the end of its run in 2025.

Now, more than three years after the park’s debut, a new exhibition is set to tour Japan, this time highlighting the park’s current state. The best part is, the new exhibition will kick off in Osaka this July before travelling to other prefectures.

This new Ghibli Park Exhibition will have 'play' as its theme, with a majority of the showcases designed to be interactive and experiential. One key exhibit is the Mini Ghibli Park, where all five zones of the Aichi attraction are recreated as a board game experience. The squares on the floor are styled after Ghibli Park posters, and there will be plenty of games and photo opportunities.

Moreover, visitors get to enjoy two of Ghibli Park's most popular features here in Osaka. One is the revised and expanded edition of the 'Delicious! Animating Memorable Meals' exhibition, which explores the important role of food in Ghibli films through sculptures as well as production materials including storyboards and background art.

Of course, no Ghibli exhibition is complete without the crowd-pleasing set pieces...

The National Museum of Art, Osaka is dedicated to collecting and exhibiting Japanese and international works produced in the modern age, largely from 1945 to the present day. However, there are also a number of pieces that date further back.

As the museum gears up to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2027, this commemorative exhibition will re-examine its vast collection to piece together a narrative of the history and development of art. The main focus is to look at the social and historical contexts in the years leading up to the museum’s opening in 1977, and how they shaped the art of that time.

This 50th anniversary exhibition is split into two parts. The first, running from July 19 to November 3, gathers around 140 works by more than 80 artists. The oldest piece in the museum’s collection, the Post-Impressionist ‘Preparation for a Banquet’ by Paul Cézanne from the 1890s, serves as the starting point. With the curation’s chronological flow through to the mid-1960s, visitors can simultaneously learn about the different artistic movements during that time period...

Active during the late Edo period (1603–1868), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) was a talented ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist whose work crosses multiple genres. While he is best known for his musha-e, or warrior prints, he also painted uniquely styled landscapes incorporating Western painting techniques, as well as portraits of stylish women (bijin-ga) and popular actors. His work was so extensive and prolific that he established a reputation as a super creator in the ukiyo-e world back in the day.

This exhibition brings together about 200 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s work. His extraordinary and versatile talent is showcased across six distinct genres. You can expect to see some of his most iconic artworks including ‘The Takiyasha Witch and the Skeleton Spectre’ (one of the world’s most recognisable ukiyo-e images) and ‘Fifty Three Stations of the Tokaido Road Explained by Cats’.

Aside from the traditional display, the organisers of the immensely popular Ukiyo-e Immersive Art Exhibition have transformed roughly 50 pieces of Kuniyoshi’s woodblock prints into a captivating digital art experience...