Best Exhibitions Starting in May 2026
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of the best exhibitions opening in May 2026. Save the exhibitions on the TAB website or TAB app and don't miss the openings and closings.
- ◎Tokyo
- 【Tokyo】 The Art of Kawai Gyokudō (Yamatane Museum of Art)
- 【Tokyo】 Gaudí: Windows on the Future (21_21 DESIGN SIGHT)
- 【Tokyo】 Tokyo Architecture Festival 2026 (various locations)
- 【Tokyo】 Mizumaru Anzai "I Draw to Play" (Play! Museum)
- 【Tokyo】 Matsumoto Yoko: The Day I Saw the Evening Star (Fuchu Art Museum)
- 【Tokyo】 (Un)known Hiroko Koshino (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
- 【Tokyo】 Grand Van Gogh Exhibition ― Terrace of a Café at night (Ueno Royal Museum)
- 【Tokyo】 The Allure of Qipao —— Fashion Born in the Modern City a Century Ago (Japan-China Friendship Center Art Museum)
- ◎Japan
- 【Saitama】 The Secrets of Stopmotion Animation (Skip City Sainokuni Visual Plaza)
- 【Chiba】 Beyond the Darkness Lies Another World. Part 1: Kota Takeuchi Nonononono-Matsuri (Ichihara Lakeside Museum)
- 【Kanagawa】 Atsuhiko Misawa + Yasushi Tanada "Sculpted theatre" (Kanagawa Arts Theatre)
- 【Kanagawa】 Fumiko Hori — Sketches, Studies, and Final Works at Joshibi (Joshibi University of Art and Design - Joshibi Art Museum)
- 【Niigata】 Go Out! Ehon Museum (Niitsu Art Museum)
- 【Niigata】 Collection Exhibition: Walking, Staying (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
- 【Shizuoka】 Hiroshige Woodblock X Photo along the Fifty-three Stations on the Tōkaidō (MOA Museum of Art)
- 【Aichi】 Stories Painted by The Master Heinz Werner:The Porcelain Art of Contemporary Meissen (Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum)
- 【Osaka】 Art Osaka 2026 Expanded Section (Creative Center Osaka)
- 【Ehime】 Mystery of the Forest Art Museum Ⅶ (The Museum of Art, Ehime)
◎Tokyo
【Tokyo】 The Art of Kawai Gyokudō (Yamatane Museum of Art)
Dive into the creative journey of Gyokudo Kawai (1873–1957), a nihonga painter who opened new possibilities for the genre by moving from traditional sansui, or “mountain-and-water,” painting toward modern landscape painting. Deeply devoted to Japan’s mountains and rivers, Gyokudo depicted nostalgic rural scenes, including changing seasons, countryside landscapes, and the people who lived there.
Venue: Yamatane Museum of Art
Schedule: May 16 – July 26
【Tokyo】 Gaudí: Windows on the Future (21_21 DESIGN SIGHT)
A celebration of Gaudí’s creative genius, this exhibition features research findings and models that invite us to learn from his architectural journey. It is part of the Japan-Spain program and shares the same concept as the main exhibition at Palau Güell, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while presenting it on a smaller scale in Tokyo.
Venue: 21_21 Design Sight
Schedule: May 16 – July 12
【Tokyo】 Tokyo Architecture Festival 2026 (various locations)
Tokyo Architecture Festival, a large-scale event dedicated to design, architecture, history, and creativity, will be held across central Tokyo for the third time. Centered around the Ueno, Shinagawa, and Shibuya areas, the festival offers a wide range of programs, including special openings of buildings that are usually closed to the general public.
Venue: Ueno, Shinagawa, Shibuya, etc.
Schedule: May 16 – May 24
【Tokyo】 Mizumaru Anzai "I Draw to Play" (Play! Museum)
This exhibition features works by Mizumaru Anzai, an illustrator active across a wide range of fields from the 1970s onward, including novels, manga, picture books, essays, and advertising. Tracing the sense of play that was central to Anzai’s creativity, the exhibition presents more than 500 items, including printed materials, original drawings, prints, and related archival materials.
Venue: Play! Museum
Schedule: May 20 – July 12
【Tokyo】 Matsumoto Yoko: The Day I Saw the Evening Star (Fuchu Art Museum)
This is Yoko Matsumoto’s first large-scale solo exhibition at a public museum. Her signature paintings, dominated by shades of pink, emerged from her encounter with acrylic paint and raw cotton canvas. Matsumoto’s vivid yet tender works create a unique sense of movement and light, captivating the viewer’s gaze.
Venue: Fuchu Art Museum
Schedule: May 23 – July 12
【Tokyo】 (Un)known Hiroko Koshino (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
This retrospective traces Hiroko Koshino’s creative journey over more than half a century. The exhibition invites viewers into a dialogue with the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of Koshino’s work, offering a fresh perspective on the evolution of her art.
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Schedule: May 26 – July 26
【Tokyo】 Grand Van Gogh Exhibition ― Terrace of a Café at night (Ueno Royal Museum)
It may feel difficult to say something new about yet another Van Gogh exhibition, but this show offers a meaningful opportunity to reconsider our connection with his art. It also invites us to reflect on how personal pain can be transformed into artworks that continue to captivate audiences around the world.
Venue: Ueno Royal Museum
Schedule: May 29 – August 12
【Tokyo】 The Allure of Qipao —— Fashion Born in the Modern City a Century Ago (Japan-China Friendship Center Art Museum)
This exhibition is dedicated to one of the most iconic symbols of modern China – the qipao dress. It presents antique qipaos from the 1900s to the 1940s, along with bound-foot shoes, furnishings, hand-embroidered accessories, and other items related to Chinese culture.
Venue: Japan-China Friendship Center Art Museum
Schedule: May 29 – June 28
◎Japan
【Saitama】 The Secrets of Stopmotion Animation (Skip City Sainokuni Visual Plaza)
This exhibition explores the possibilities of stop-motion animation, from the early days of cinema to the present. Introducing its history, behind-the-scenes production processes, and representative works, the show highlights the enduring appeal and creative potential of this animation technique.
Venue: Skip City Sainokuni Visual Plaza
Schedule: May 2 – September 27
【Chiba】 Beyond the Darkness Lies Another World. Part 1: Kota Takeuchi Nonononono-Matsuri (Ichihara Lakeside Museum)
Ichihara Lakeside Museum partially reopens after renovation with a video installation by Kota Takeuchi, an artist known for creating works based on research into stone monuments and historical remains. Drawing on four months of fieldwork in Ichihara, the exhibition traces the flow of time from the ancient past alongside the changing rhythms of nature.
Venue: Ichihara Lakeside Museum
Schedule: May 1 – June 28
【Kanagawa】 Atsuhiko Misawa + Yasushi Tanada "Sculpted theatre" (Kanagawa Arts Theatre)
KAAT EXHIBITION is an original series by KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre that explores new forms of expression through the fusion of contemporary art and theatrical space. For its 11th edition, the series presents the first sculpture exhibition to be held in the theater, featuring Kanagawa-connected sculptors Atsuhiko Misawa and Koji Tanada. Misawa is known for his ANIMALS series, in which he carves life-sized animals from camphor wood, while Tanada creates figures such as boys and girls who seem to drift between boundaries, using the technique of carving from a single block of wood.
Venue: Kanagawa Arts Theatre
Schedule: May 17 – June 14
【Kanagawa】 Fumiko Hori — Sketches, Studies, and Final Works at Joshibi (Joshibi University of Art and Design - Joshibi Art Museum)
This exhibition focuses on nihonga painter Fumiko Hori (1918–2019), also known as “the painter of life.” From a collection of approximately 12,000 materials, the exhibition presents an unprecedented selection of valuable preparatory drawings and sketchbooks created during her artistic process. It features works from her time at Joshibi Women’s School of Fine Arts (now Joshibi University of Art and Design) which Hori described as the starting point of her artistic career, alongside major works from her later years, small preparatory sketches, and drawings.
Venue: Joshibi University of Art and Design - Joshibi Art Museum
Schedule: May 22 – August 4
【Niigata】 Go Out! Ehon Museum (Niitsu Art Museum)
Have you ever dreamed of stepping inside a picture book? Now you can. This exhibition invites visitors into the worlds of seven popular picture books, making them feel as though they have wandered into a story. Visitors can also create motifs that appear in the books and enjoy a video area where they can lie down while watching. Don’t forget to check out the “Picture Book Forest” corner, which offers around 800 picture books to browse and discover.
Venue: Niitsu Art Museum
Schedule: May 23 – August 30
【Niigata】 Collection Exhibition: Walking, Staying (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
Have you ever thought about walking as an artistic practice? This exhibition features works that explore various forms of movement: observing the outside world by taking a step forward, entering the inner realms of thought and memory, confronting the friction that arises in the places where walkers find themselves, and negotiating one’s relationship with a given location.
Venue: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Schedule: May 23 – October 18
【Shizuoka】 Hiroshige Woodblock X Photo along the Fifty-three Stations on the Tōkaidō (MOA Museum of Art)
This exhibition presents all 55 works from Utagawa Hiroshige’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (1797–1858), while also introducing the modern-day Tokaido journey through comparative displays of photographs showing the current landscapes of the former post towns.
Venue: MOA Museum of Art
Schedule: May 15 – July 7
【Aichi】 Stories Painted by The Master Heinz Werner:The Porcelain Art of Contemporary Meissen (Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum)
Meissen is one of Europe’s most celebrated porcelain manufacturers. Founded in the 18th century as a royal porcelain manufactory in the historic city of Meissen, in present-day Saxony, Germany, it has long been associated with exquisite craftsmanship. This exhibition is the first in Japan to focus on master artist Heinz Werner, presenting the beauty of contemporary Meissen porcelain through his masterpieces and related works.
Venue: Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum
Schedule: May 30 – September 27
【Osaka】 Art Osaka 2026 Expanded Section (Creative Center Osaka)
Set in Grand Green Osaka, a major urban redevelopment area now attracting attention, ART OSAKA takes its next step forward. In Umekita, an area with growing potential as a new hub for cultural exchange, galleries and artists from Japan and abroad will gather, creating encounters and dialogue through art. Presenting the forefront of contemporary art, ART OSAKA 2026 will bring together 65 carefully selected galleries from Japan and overseas, offering new values for a new era.
Venue: Creative Center Osaka
Schedule: May 28 – Jun 1
【Ehime】 Mystery of the Forest Art Museum Ⅶ (The Museum of Art, Ehime)
The National Tree-Planting Festival was launched in 1950 to foster love and appreciation for forests, and this year it will be held in Ehime on May 17. To mark the occasion, this exhibition introduces the circulation of Ehime’s forests through works from the museum collection selected by designers active throughout the prefecture, along with design works and spatial installations newly created for the exhibition.
Venue: The Museum of Art, Ehime
Schedule: May 16 – July 17
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