“Artists Who Gathered at the ‘Café’” at the Hiroshima Museum of Art Until January 11; Museum to Close for Renovation from August 2027

At the Hiroshima Museum of Art (Naka-ku, Hiroshima City), the special exhibition “Artists Who Gathered at the ‘Café’: From the Impressionists to Van Gogh, Lautrec and Picasso” is on view until Monday, January 11, 2027 (national holiday). It is the first special exhibition planned jointly by the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and the Hiroshima Museum of Art. Focusing on the cafés and cabarets that became meeting places for artists in Paris and Barcelona from the mid-19th century, it examines artistic movements through works drawn mainly from the two museums’ collections. There is a display change during the run, with the second period starting on Tuesday, November 17.

Highlights: from the Café Guerbois to Els Quatre Gats

According to the museum, cafés and cabarets sprang up one after another in Montmartre, Paris, from the mid-19th century. Cafés were not only places to eat and drink but also places where artists met and culture spread.

For Monet and Renoir, who gathered at the Café Guerbois out of admiration for Manet, and for Van Gogh after he came to Paris, cafés became places that supported their creative work. Toulouse-Lautrec became a regular at café-concerts and painted the dancers and singers who performed there one after another. These developments in fin-de-siècle Paris spread to Barcelona, where, through the activities of Casas and Rusiñol at Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats), they had a great influence on the artistic formation of the young Picasso.

According to the list of works, the exhibition is organized in three chapters: “Painting the Café: From Realism to Impressionism,” “The Café at Night: The Fin de Siècle of Chéret and Lautrec,” and “The Arrival of Le Chat Noir and What Followed: Back and Forth between Paris and Barcelona.”

What can be seen?

From the Hiroshima Museum of Art’s collection come Édouard Manet’s “Pink Shoes (Berthe Morisot)” (1872) and Auguste Renoir’s “Place de la Trinité, Paris” (c. 1875). Lautrec is represented by “The Refrain of the Louis XIII Chair at the Cabaret of Aristide Bruant” (1886) and “Aristide Bruant” (1893), and Picasso by “Cancan” (1900) and “Two Women at a Bar” (1902).

From the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum come works such as Lautrec’s “Moulin Rouge, La Goulue” (1891). The “Cover for ‘Le Café-Concert’” (1893) by Henri-Gabriel Ibels and Lautrec and Félix Vallotton’s “The Uproar, or Café Scene” (1892) are also from its collection.

The main loans from other collections are as follows.

• Vincent van Gogh, “Windmills on Montmartre” (1886, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation)

• Ramon Casas, “Madeleine” (1892, Museu de Montserrat)

• Santiago Rusiñol, “Café des Incohérents” (1889–90, Museu de Montserrat)

• Pablo Picasso, “Street Scene” (1900, POLA Museum of Art)

• Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, “Tour of Le Chat Noir” (1896, Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology; first period)

The exhibition traveled from the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo (June 13 – September 23, 2026), where, according to that museum, it consisted of about 130 works. The Hiroshima venue’s list of works includes seven works that were shown only at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum and are not on view in Hiroshima.

Closing from August 2027: the renovation and a touring exhibition

On October 6, the Hiroshima Museum of Art announced that it will close for major renovation work from Sunday, August 1, 2027 to Thursday, November 2, 2028 (planned). Ahead of its 50th anniversary in November 2028, it aims to ensure the proper preservation and management of artworks, improve convenience and provide a safe, comfortable viewing environment. During the closure, the museum shop and Café Jardin will also close, along with exhibitions.

The centerpiece of the work is a new truck yard built to meet the standards for loans of artworks, which have become stricter in recent years, providing a space completely sheltered from wind and rain while works are loaded and unloaded. The museum says this will allow smooth lending and borrowing of works with museums in Japan and abroad, so that visitors can continue to see exhibitions bringing together famous and valuable works.

In addition, an indoor corridor will be built so that visitors can reach the galleries regardless of the weather, and some manual doors at the main entrances of the office building and annex will be replaced with automatic doors. The work also includes cleaning the exterior walls of the main building, repairing water supply pipes and ducts, renovating the interiors of Galleries 7 and 8 in the annex and converting lighting to LED.

From spring 2027 to autumn 2028, including the closure period, a touring exhibition of the “Hiroshima Museum of Art Collection” is planned at seven museums across Japan, with the host museums to be announced once decided. The museum plans to reopen on Friday, November 3, 2028, the exact date of its 50th anniversary, with a large special exhibition related to Impressionism.

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 2,200 yen for adults, 1,000 yen for high school and university students and 500 yen for elementary and junior high school students, and free for preschool children. Groups of 20 or more pay 2,000 yen (adults), 800 yen (high school and university students) and 300 yen (elementary and junior high school students). Those 65 and over pay 2,000 yen (proof of age required). Holders of a disability certificate and one companion are admitted free. The ticket also admits visitors to the collection display.

Showing a ticket (or stub) for a concurrent special exhibition at the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum or the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art gives 100 yen off a same-day ticket. Bringing a flyer distributed inside the ticket gates of Astram Line stations until Sunday, November 8 gives 200 yen off same-day admission (while flyers last).

Opening hours are 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30). During the run, the museum is closed on Monday, November 16 and over the year-end and New Year holidays from December 29 to January 2. Curators’ museum talks are held in the main building hall from 11:00 to 12:00 on Saturdays, November 14, December 12 and January 9, 2027. Capacity is about 100 (first come, first served on the day), a ticket valid on the day is required, and no advance application is needed.

From the South Exit of JR Hiroshima Station, take a streetcar (Line 1 for “Hiroshima Port,” Line 2 for “Hiroden Miyajimaguchi” or Line 6 for “Eba”) for about 15 minutes, get off at “Kamiya-cho Higashi” and walk about 300 meters. It is a 5-minute walk from Hiroshima Bus Center. Parking is available only for people with disabilities and others with special needs; there is no general parking. The exhibition page introduces limited menu items at the museum’s Café Jardin, such as a croque-monsieur plate (1,540 yen). Elsewhere in Hiroshima Prefecture, Motoi Yamamoto’s retrospective “Toward the White Sea” is on view at the Onomichi City Museum of Art until November 15, and the contemporary art exhibition “MAFIN 2026” runs at Daishoin on Miyajima from November 20 to December 13.

Editor’s perspective

At the heart of the renovation is a truck yard that meets the standards for lending artworks. The museum says it will make loans with museums in Japan and abroad go smoothly and lead to exhibitions bringing together famous works. It can be read as an investment to keep holding special exhibitions that involve joint projects with other museums and borrowed works.

As of October 19, the only special exhibition announced to open in 2027 is the tour of “Marimekko: The Power of Patterns,” now on view at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, which will be held at the Hiroshima Museum of Art from Saturday, January 30 to Sunday, March 28, 2027. Closures and reopenings around the country are gathered in our guide to museum closures and reopenings.

Overview

Name: Artists Who Gathered at the “Café”: From the Impressionists to Van Gogh, Lautrec and Picasso
Dates: Saturday, October 3, 2026 – Monday, January 11, 2027 (national holiday) (first period: until Sunday, November 15; second period: from Tuesday, November 17)
Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Monday, November 16, December 29 – January 2
Venue: Hiroshima Museum of Art
Address: 3-2 Motomachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City (in Central Park)
Admission: Adults 2,200 yen, high school and university students 1,000 yen, elementary and junior high school students 500 yen, 65 and over 2,000 yen, preschool children free (groups of 20 or more: adults 2,000 yen, high school and university students 800 yen, elementary and junior high school students 300 yen)
Organizers: Hiroshima Museum of Art, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Hiroshima Television, The Chugoku Shimbun
Planned closure: Sunday, August 1, 2027 – Thursday, November 2, 2028 (for major renovation work)
Official website: https://www.hiroshima-museum.jp/special/detail/202610_cafe.html
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

Winter night events and museum exhibitions in Hiroshima are covered in our Hiroshima art guide.

*Top image: Ramon Casas, “Madeleine,” 1892, Museu de Montserrat, donated by J. Sala Ardiz (from a press release by the Hiroshima Museum of Art (ARTPR))

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Hiroshima Museum of Art (October 6, 2026) and information on its official website, as well as press materials from the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum (June 12, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team