The museum will close on March 31, 2025. After that, they plan to downsize and move to Tokyo.
https://kawamura-museum.dic.co.jp/news/10-notice/
An art museum surrounded by greenery. In the Mark Rothko Room, admire the colors of the indistinct rectangular outline, meditate and get rid of distractions.
This is a private art museum in Chiba, Japan. The museum opened in 1990. There are artworks collected by the chemical manufacturer DIC Corporation. The museum is a two-story Western-style building on the premises of DIC Corporation’s research institute. There are forests and ponds around the building. It can be classified as a suburban or natural art museum.
In front of the museum’s entrance, there is a pond. Upon entering the building, I found a lobby with an atrium extending to the second floor. After passing through the lobby and turning left, I find the first exhibition room, Room 101.
What makes this museum special is that it has a large selection of artworks by foreign artists, including Picasso, Chagall, Magritte. It is mainly from the 1900s. Picasso’s paintings were in a style unlike anything I had seen before. In the exhibition room on the second floor, there were relatively recent artworks in the late 1900s.
Well, what is the highlight?
It is the Rothko Room, which features only the artworks of Mark Rothko, a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism. This Room 106 at the back of the first floor is a flattened hexagon shape. In a dimly lit room, there are seven paintings depicting rectangular shapes in reddish-purple colors on the wall. The two largest paintings are about 3 meters high and 5 meters wide. There is a backrestless sofa in the center of the room, allowing one to immerse in the quiet space.
When I sit down on the sofa and look at the colors of the indistinct rectangular outline, my distractions has gone. The structure and atmosphere of the exhibition room looks similar to the room in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, where only Monet’s “Water Lilies”. However, if you want to reach a deeper level of meditation, I highly recommend the Mark Rothko Room.”
For your inforamtion, the only places where Mark Rothko’s paintings are exclusively displayed other than this museum are the Tate Modern in London, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and the Rothko Chapel in Houston.
In addition, there is the “Twombly Room” on the second floor. This Room 200 displays Cy Twombly’s paintings and sculptures and it was a spacious space. I could see the forest outside from the windows on both sides of the room. This room was so exquisite that the view almost overshadowed Cy Twombly’s artwork.
There are three rooms on the second floor, 201, 202, and 203. All of which are spacious and luxurious. The special exhibition “Color Fields” in 2022 featured only abstract paintings, and it was unlike any exhibition I had ever seen before.
Although it is a private art museum, I assume that the curators are highly qualified. The discovery of Jules Olitsky and Maurice Lewis at this special exhibition was a blessing.
On the first floor, there is a tea room at the back of Room 110, where I had matcha and Japanese sweets. Just outside the building, a short walk leads to a plaza with a beautiful green lawn. It is a relaxing space surrounded by nature.
By the way, taking photos inside the museum is not allowed. I thought it would be a good idea to prohibit photography in the Rothko Room only, while allowing it in the rest of the museum.
Visited in 2018, 2021, 2022.
Basic Information
■ Name： Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art
■ Address : 631 Sakado, Sakura, Chiba, Japan
■ Homepage：https://kawamura-museum.dic.co.jp/en/
■ Others
- To indulge in meditation in the Mark Rothko Room, I recommend visiting on weekdays. If possible, it’s best to avoid weekends, especially during special or popular exhibitions.
- For access to the museum, if traveling by train, there is a shuttle bus from JR Sakura Station, the nearest station. Additionally, Keisei operates a direct bus service from Tokyo Station, with one round trip per day. The bus is large and comfortable, making it a recommended option. It is best to relax and enjoy the scenery on the bus without having to drive.
