Ohara Museum of Art’s El Greco “Annunciation” Shown After Its First Restoration in About 60 Years; Until March 28, 2027

El Greco’s “The Annunciation” (c. 1590–1603) is on view for the first time after restoration in Room 3 of the Main Building of the Ohara Museum of Art (Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture). The display is titled “El Greco’s ‘The Annunciation’: First Showing After Restoration – Pre-Redisplay (Supported by the Kuraray Foundation).” In 2025, the painting underwent its first restoration in about 60 years, carried out at the Ohara Museum of Art by a painting conservator from the Museo del Prado in Spain. The display runs from Saturday, April 25, 2026 to Sunday, March 28, 2027.

The first restoration in about 60 years: What was removed?

According to the Ohara Foundation for the Arts, the only recorded restoration since the work came to Japan was in 1959. No record remains of what that restoration involved, and the foundation says this can be considered the first full-scale restoration. The restoration was carried out in 2025 as a collaboration between the Ohara Foundation for the Arts and the Kuraray Foundation.

The conservator invited was Eva María Martínez Morales of the Museo del Prado, who specializes in early modern Spanish and Italian painting. After examining the work’s condition and exchanging views in front of it with the foundation’s researchers and curators, she set the basic policy of returning the painting as close as possible to its original state as painted by El Greco. In line with this policy, accumulated surface dirt and later overpainting and restorations were removed. The foundation says the vivid colors and El Greco’s distinctive expression have been revived.

In the foundation’s announcement of June 2025, the work period was given as July 14 to mid-August 2025 (planned), and the painting was taken off display from July 8. The Ohara Museum of Art then closed from February 9 to April 24, 2026 for facility renovation work, and this display began on April 25, when the museum reopened.

Why now? The only El Greco in Japan before the war

El Greco (real name Domenikos Theotokopoulos) was a Greek-born painter active in Italy and Spain from the mid-16th to the early 17th century. He set up a workshop in the ancient city of Toledo.

In 1922, Torajiro Kojima, a Western-style painter who had studied art in Europe, bought the painting at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris with financial support from Magosaburo Ohara. It is said to be the only oil painting by El Greco in Japan before the war and was shown in Kurashiki in 1923.

The restoration is also positioned as a project commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Kuraray Group’s founding in 2026. The Kuraray Foundation, established in April 2016, has long supported the restoration of works in the Ohara Foundation for the Arts’ collection with the aim of contributing to the promotion of the arts. Alongside the restoration, high-definition digital imaging of the work and a documentary film recording the restoration process are also being produced.

What is on display? Full-size panels from before and during restoration, and early materials

The painting depicts the archangel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she will conceive Jesus, the Son of God. El Greco rendered this as a dramatic scene in which the dove of the Holy Spirit descends with a flash of light amid swirling deep darkness, and the angel and the Virgin face each other with tense expressions.

In Room 3 of the Main Building, the restored painting is displayed together with full-size reproduction panels showing it before and during restoration. To convey the impact it made when it was brought to Japan, materials from the time of its purchase and first showing are also displayed. The restoration process has been published on YouTube.

Admission, opening hours and access

The display can be seen with an Ohara Museum of Art admission ticket. Admission is 2,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for high school, junior high school and elementary school students (under 18), and free for preschool children. One ticket gives entry to the Main Building, the Crafts and Asian Art Gallery and the Torajiro Kojima Memorial Hall, and buildings not yet visited can be entered on another day (no expiration date). The Annex is closed long-term.

Opening hours are 9:00–17:00 from March to November and 9:00–15:00 from December to February (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays but opens when Monday is a public or substitute holiday. There are also temporary closures, so check the museum’s calendar. Visitors are asked to refrain from taking photographs inside.

It is about a 15-minute walk from JR Kurashiki Station. The Ohara Museum of Art has no parking, so visitors coming by car use paid parking lots in the area.

Editor’s perspective

In addition to the results of the restoration, the display shows materials from the time the work was first shown in Kurashiki in 1923.

The relationship between the Ohara collection and Japanese Western-style painters is also taken up in an exhibition in the San’in region. The “Kanji Maeda: 130th Anniversary of His Birth” exhibition at the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art (until December 13) notes that Maeda first saw actual Western paintings in the Ohara collection as a student, and introduces works by Denis, Matisse and Guérin from the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection.

Overview

Name: El Greco’s “The Annunciation”: First Showing After Restoration – Pre-Redisplay (Supported by the Kuraray Foundation)
Dates: Saturday, April 25, 2026 – Sunday, March 28, 2027
Hours: March–November 9:00–17:00, December–February 9:00–15:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open if a public or substitute holiday); temporary closures
Venue: Room 3, Main Building, Ohara Museum of Art
Address: 1-1-15 Chuo, Kurashiki, Okayama
Admission: With an Ohara Museum of Art admission ticket. Adults 2,000 yen, high school, junior high school and elementary school students 500 yen, preschool children free
Support: Kuraray Foundation
Official website: https://project.ohara.or.jp/annunciation2
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Main Building of the Ohara Museum of Art (from a press release by the Ohara Foundation for the Arts)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Ohara Foundation for the Arts (June 6, 2025 and April 7, 2026) and its official website, and press materials from Kuraray Co., Ltd. (June 6, 2025).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team