16 best art exhibitions in Tokyo right now

In the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese women artists briefly rose to prominence within the avant-garde, their work shaped by the influx of the abstraction-heavy Art Informel movement from Europe. Yet as ‘action painting’ in the style of Jackson Pollock, with its emphasis on bold gestures and physical force, gained ground, women’s contributions were increasingly sidelined. The notion of ‘action’ was closely aligned with masculinity, reinforcing traditional gender hierarchies and leaving many female painters absent from critical discourse.

This winter exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo seeks to reframe this narrative. On show from December 16 to February 8 2026, ‘Anti-Action: Artist-Women’s Challenges and Responses in Postwar Japan’ revisits a pivotal yet overlooked chapter of Japanese art history.

Inspired by Izumi Nakajima’s acclaimed study Anti-Action: Post-War Japanese Art and Women Artists (2019), the exhibition highlights alternative strategies of creation that challenged the dominant ethos of their time. It features approximately 120 works by figures such as Yayoi Kusama, Atsuko Tanaka, Hideko Fukushima and Aiko Miyawaki, alongside lesser-known contemporaries. 

Through rare and unpublished works, immersive large-scale installations and fresh scholarly perspectives, ‘Anti-Action’ reveals how these artists redefined the possibilities of art beyond the parameters of physical action, and how their legacies continue to resonate today.

A spectacular journey through the mysteries of an ancient civilisation arrives in Tokyo this autumn with ‘Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru’, held from November 22 2025 to March 1 2026 at the Mori Arts Center Gallery. Making its highly anticipated Asian debut, the exhibition has already captivated over 540,000 visitors across four cities worldwide since its 2021 premiere at the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida.

Endorsed by the Peruvian government, the exhibition features approximately 130 artefacts on loan from Lima’s renowned Larco Museum, many of which are being displayed in Japan for the first time. Highlights include opulent gold adornments unearthed from royal tombs and sacred ritual items used in ancient temples, offering an intimate look at the artistry and spiritual life of the Andean civilisations.

Visitors can also experience an immersive recreation of Machu Picchu, the iconic city in the clouds, realised with cutting-edge digital technology. The exhibition’s narrative centres on the mythic hero Aiapæc, inviting audiences on an intellectual and emotional adventure through history, legend and archaeological wonder.

Visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) transformed the landscape of modern architecture through his organic forms, bold innovations and deep reverence for nature. His iconic works, including Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Milà and, above all, the Sagrada Família, remain enduring testaments to his genius, blending mathematics and faith into living architecture. Today, seven of his masterpieces are recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s passing and the completion of the Sagrada Família’s main tower, ‘Naked meets Gaudí’ at Warehouse Terrada offers a groundbreaking fusion of art, technology and scholarship. In official collaboration with the Gaudí Foundation, the immersive exhibition unveils Gaudí’s personal notebooks, letters, architectural tools and original blueprints, many on display for the first time worldwide.

Through cutting-edge projection, participatory installations and interactive experiences, visitors are invited to step inside Gaudí’s creative universe; to touch, feel and co-create the harmony of nature and architecture that defined his vision. Bridging a century of imagination, the exhibition celebrates Gaudí as an architect of stone, but also as a designer of dreams, whose spirit continues to shape the future of art and design.

Pop art impresario Andy Warhol (1928–1987) blurred the boundaries between high culture and mass consumption, transforming everyday objects and the faces of celebrities into icons of contemporary art. His fascination with fame, beauty and repetition made him both a mirror of his age and a relentless critic of it, leaving behind a body of work that continues to resonate in today’s image-saturated culture.

Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo’s ‘Serial Portraits’ showcase is part of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Hors-les-murs program, which brings highlights from its Paris collection to audiences worldwide. This free exhibition focuses on Warhol’s radical reinvention of portraiture, from his playful photo booth experiments in the early 1960s to the spectral self-portraits he made shortly before his death.

Highlights like the Self-Portraits series (1977–1986) are displayed alongside both celebrated and lesser-known works to offer insight into Warhol’s evolving exploration of identity, celebrity and the endless possibilities of repetition. By juxtaposing iconic images with hidden gems, the exhibition reveals how Warhol turned portraiture into a stage for both personal reflection and cultural critique.

Founded in Osaka in 1983, Capcom has shaped the landscape of global gaming with legendary franchises like Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.

To celebrate over four decades of imagination, innovation and impact from one of Japan’s most iconic video game developers, Creative Museum Tokyo is hosting ‘Capcom Creation – Moving Hearts Across the Globe’ until February 22 2026. This immersive exhibition explores the evolution of video games as an art form, one that blends technology with human creativity to bring extraordinary digital worlds to life.

Spanning multiple ‘rounds’, the exhibition traces Capcom’s creative journey. Visitors enter through a vibrant 16-metre video tunnel featuring animated tributes to beloved characters, then dive into rare concept art, design documents, vintage box illustrations and behind-the-scenes materials. Interactive zones, including a pixel art lab, facial expression tracking and motion capture mirrors, invite guests to experience the technology behind game creation first hand.

Explore how post-war black markets shaped the evolution of Tokyo’s urban fabric at this intriguing exhibition, held at Takashimaya Archives Tokyo on the fourth floor of the Nihombashi Takashimaya department store.

On show until February 23 2026, the display marks 80 years since the end of World War II and focuses on the makeshift marketplaces that emerged amid the ruins of Tokyo. During the war, large-scale demolitions, intended to prevent the spread of fires caused by air raids, created vacant lots across the city. In the chaotic years that followed, these empty spaces, together with bombsites and even roadside corners, were transformed into black markets. Known as yami-ichi, they supplied goods and sustenance in a time of scarcity while seeding new social and commercial hubs.

Particular attention is given to Shinjuku, where some of the black markets grew into vibrant entertainment districts that remain central to Tokyo’s identity today. And while most of the markets eventually vanished, their traces endure in the city’s streetscapes and neighbourhoods.

Curated by Tokukazu Ishigure of Kwansei Gakuin University, the exhibition reframes black markets as more than unlawful encroachments, highlighting their role as catalysts of urban renewal – spaces where disorder gave rise to energy, resilience and reinvention.

The Watari-um’s ‘One More’ brings together two global icons of contemporary urban art: Brazilian twins Osgemeos and American artist Barry McGee. Emerging from graffiti and street culture, both artists have redefined the boundaries between public art and the museum space, infusing walls, cities and galleries around the world with vivid colour, rhythm and humanity.

Known for their dreamlike murals and whimsical characters, Osgemeos have exhibited from the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington to Milan’s Pirelli HangarBicocca. McGee, celebrated for his bold, socially engaged work under the tag ‘Twist’, has been a central figure in the American street art scene, showing monumental installations at SFMOMA and the Venice Biennale.

With ‘One More’, the duo transforms the Watari-um into a dynamic playground of imagination. Conceived as a spontaneous dialogue between long-time friends and collaborators, the exhibition blurs the lines between painting, sculpture, animation and installation. Expect a universe where urban energy meets poetic introspection – a celebration of creativity, community, and the enduring spirit of the streets that inspires the artists.

Sol LeWitt (1928–2007) is counted among the most influential figures in postwar American art. Emerging in the 1960s amid the rise of minimalism and conceptual art, LeWitt replaced the emotional expressionism of earlier generations with a rigorous focus on systems, structures and ideas. His works, from modular ‘structures’ based on cubes to his celebrated Wall Drawings, transformed how art could be made, perceived and even authored. As he famously wrote in his 1967 essay Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, ‘The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.’

‘Open Structure’ is the first major public museum survey of the artist’s work in Japan. Spanning wall drawings, sculptures, works on paper and artist’s books, the exhibition traces LeWitt’s lifelong pursuit of an art of pure thought and open form. Six wall drawings, realised by local teams following LeWitt’s own detailed instructions, invite viewers to experience his radical redefinition of authorship and collaboration.

Highlighting LeWitt’s ‘open structures’, the exhibition reveals how his skeletal cubic forms, stripped of surface and solidity, expose the underlying architecture of thought. The artist’s enduring influence lies in his conviction that ‘ideas cannot be owned; they belong to whoever understands them’.

Women’s emancipation was in full swing at the beginning of the twentieth century and had a considerable influence on fashion. The interwar period saw the emergence of the liberated woman, in search of a modern and daring style reflecting her new spirit. At the same time, the Art Deco movement was born, blooming during the 1920s first in relation to interior architecture and furniture. It was in this context that the first icon of Art Deco fashion was born: the garçonne, an emblematic figure of the Roaring Twenties.

Art Deco fashion came to be characterised by geometric and clean shapes, bold colours and high-quality materials. Beaded dresses, furs, feathers and sequins make up the Art Deco wardrobe, where graphic patterns and bold prints bring a touch of sophistication and theatricality to outfits.

Looking back at this era of luxurious and opulent wear – and celebrating the centenary of the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris – the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is organising the ‘Art Deco and Fashion’ exhibition from October 11 2025 to January 25 2026. The museum will display about sixty iconic Art Deco outfits – including evening dresses from the great Parisian houses such as Poiret, Chanel and Lanvin – as well as paintings, prints, handicrafts, and other artwork from Japanese and foreign museums.

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (b. 1947) is a towering figure in the history of Japanese animation and manga. From his early days as an animator at Mushi Productions to his role as the character designer and animation director of Mobile Suit Gundam, the Hokkaido native has shaped the visual language of modern anime.

Beyond Gundam, his multifaceted career spans animation direction, illustration and manga, where he has explored both epic historical narratives and nuanced human dramas, earning him accolades such as the Japan Academy Prize Special Award and the Seiun Award.

On from November 18 2025 to February 1 2026, ‘Yoshikazu Yasuhiko: Divine Animator and Draftsman’ at the Shoto Museum of Art offers the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s nearly five-decade career. The exhibition traces Yasuhiko’s creative journey across six thematic chapters, from his formative years in Hokkaido to his ground-breaking contributions to anime and his celebrated work in historical manga.

With over 800 exhibits, including rare production materials, colour illustrations and original manga manuscripts, the show reveals the breadth of Yasuhiko’s vision – and puts appropriate focus on his masterful drawing skills.

Hokkaido-born Atsushi Suwa is one of Japan’s foremost contemporary realist painters. Noted for his extraordinary technical mastery, Suwa combines rigorous research with a penetrating gaze, producing works that explore physical likeness and themes such as memory, mythology and the traces of history. His portraits, still lifes and narrative paintings have earned him wide acclaim both in Japan and abroad.

From September 11 to March 1 2026, the What Museum on Tennozu Isle presents the artist’s first large-scale solo exhibition in three years. Encompassing around 80 works, the exhibition spans early creations, intimate family portraits and newly painted still lifes, with nearly 30 of the pieces shown publicly for the first time. At the heart of the display is At the Shore (2025), a monumental painting depicting a human-like figure assembled from objects in Suwa’s studio, reflecting the artist’s pandemic-era withdrawal from portraiture and his gradual reawakening to the human form.

Curated by Takenori Miyamoto, the exhibition unfolds across five themed rooms and is accompanied by a documentary film and a short story by Akutagawa Prize winner Kaori Fujino.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) stands tall as one of Japan’s most celebrated artists, renowned for his dazzling imagination, bold compositions and mastery of line. While his brush paintings reveal his singular vision, ukiyo-e prints – commercially produced, widely circulated images – were what cemented his global legacy. These prints, once everyday commodities, now serve as invaluable windows into the culture, lifestyles and visual sensibilities of the period.

The Sumida Hokusai Museum’s ‘Exploring with Hokusai! The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Ukiyo-e Prints’ delves deep into the medium that shaped Hokusai’s fame. Rather than simply showcasing masterpieces, the exhibition illuminates the evolution of ukiyo-e technology, from early monochromatic sumizuri-e to the vivid nishiki-e that revolutionised colour printing. You’ll get to discover the ingenuity of carvers, printers and publishers, whose finely tuned collaboration brought each work to life.

The exhibition also highlights ukiyo-e as Edo-period (1603–1868) media. Portraits of actors, travel images, fans and advertisements reveal a lively society recorded through prints that doubled as entertainment and information. Together, the works on display offer a richly layered portrait of Edo’s visual culture and the enduring appeal of ukiyo-e.

This year marks a century since the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris gave birth to the Art Deco movement. The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum celebrates with a dazzling display highlighting the work of jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels, which won a Grand Prize at the landmark event 100 years ago with creations such as the ‘Entwined Flowers, Red and White Roses’ bracelet.

That gemstone-adorned stunner and around 250 other creations from the Art Deco giant, including jewellery, timepieces and accessory cases from the Maison’s patrimonial and private collections, will be exhibited alongside 60 archival documents.

The museum’s Main Building, once the residence of Prince Yasuhiko Asaka and itself an architectural masterpiece shaped by the Art Deco spirit, will display rare pieces crafted between the 1910s and 1930s. The annex, meanwhile, will highlight the Maison’s signature savoir-faire, transformable designs and exquisite gemstone artistry.

Seeking to facilitate dialogue between history, craftsmanship and design, the exhibition invites visitors to rediscover the artistic vitality of Art Deco while celebrating the enduring artistry and innovation of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Note that tickets must be purchased for a specified date and time slot. The museum will extend its opening hours to 8pm on November 21, 22, 28 & 29 and December 5 & 6.

From the Bronze Age to the present, metal has embodied power, endurance and mystery. Alchemists once revered it as the material of transmutation, and blacksmiths, who mastered the art of molding metal with fire, were seen as keepers of divine knowledge.

Ginza Maison Hermès revisits this legacy through a group exhibition that explores the elemental, cultural and symbolic dimensions of one of humanity’s most transformative materials. Curated to accompany the Hermès Foundation’s publication Savoir & Faire: Metal (Iwanami Shoten, 2025), the exhibition reflects on the ambivalence of metal – its duality as both raw matter and refined craft, as nature shaped by human hand.

The show presents the works of three artists: Chu Enoki, who breathes new life into industrial scrap and relics of weaponry; Maiko Endo, whose films merge mercury and vermilion to bridge inner and cosmic worlds; and Élodie Lesourd, who reinterprets heavy metal music through hyperrealist painting and semiotic play.

Together, their works illuminate how metal, through sound, image and form, continues to shape the human imagination. Presented across the luminous 8th and 9th floors of Le Forum, the exhibition invites visitors to experience the alchemy between material, meaning and creation that defines our modern relationship with this ancient element.

Johnny Depp may be best known for his eccentric on-screen roles, but long before fame, he was quietly building a collection of artworks. Now, more than 100 of his paintings and drawings – spanning from his early twenties to the present – are on view at ‘A Bunch of Stuff – Tokyo’, held at +Base 0 inside Newoman Takanawa South. 

The exhibition features five themed spaces, beginning with bold calligraphed quotes that hint at Depp’s mindset. Visitors are then led into a bohemian studio-style room filled with the actor’s personal objects and art supplies brought directly from his workspace. 

Other highlights from the exhibition include Depp’s signature ‘Death by Confetti’ series, where celebratory motifs meet skeletons to reflect the pressure of fame, as well as a video work making its Japan debut inside the immersive ‘Black Box’. Projected across a curved screen, Depp’s paintings come to life as he narrates his reflections on art, identity and the highs and lows of his long career.

21_21 Design Sight invites you to reflect on the essence of design and its human spirit through this exhibition directed by design journalist Noriko Kawakami and curator-writer Kaoru Tashiro. In an age of accelerating change and overflowing information, the exhibition looks back to six visionary 20th-century figures who shaped modern design thinking: Bruno Munari, Max Bill, Achille Castiglioni, Otl Aicher, Enzo Mari and Dieter Rams.

Spanning Italy, Germany and Switzerland, these masters transcended aesthetics to forge ethical and philosophical foundations for design, each emphasizing creativity, clarity and social purpose. Their influence endures through their iconic works as well as through their teaching and writing, which encouraged independence and critical reflection among generations of designers.

Complementing their works is a special focus on Japanese designer Shutaro Mukai (1932–2024), whose exchanges with Max Bill and Otl Aicher helped lay the groundwork for what’s called the ‘Science of Design’ in Japan. Through rare documentary footage, archival materials and seminal creations, the exhibition explores how these pioneers of modern design envisioned the discipline as a dialogue with life itself, inspiring reflection on how creativity can shape a more thoughtful and humane society.