The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo in 2027: “Innovative! Gyoshu Hayami,” Akira Yamaguchi and Milton Avery

In 2027, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Takebashi, Tokyo) will hold three special exhibitions in its 1F Special Exhibition Gallery. From Friday, March 19, “Innovative! Gyoshu Hayami” brings together about 100 works by Gyoshu Hayami, a Nihonga painter active from the Taisho era to the early Showa era. It will be followed from Friday, June 18 by the solo exhibition “Akira Yamaguchi: Mi/Se/Mono” and from Saturday, October 9, 2027 by the “Milton Avery Exhibition (provisional title).” Admission for all three exhibitions had not been announced as of October 19.

Highlights of “Innovative! Gyoshu Hayami”: rereading his work through materials entrusted to the museum

The exhibition runs from Friday, March 19 to Sunday, May 9, 2027, organized by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Mainichi Newspapers and Nikkei Inc. The museum introduces Gyoshu as a Nihonga painter whose range of styles was so wide that no single work can sum him up. With meticulous realism he overturned the conventions of Nihonga, and in his avant-garde experiments he even tried to express “truth” without looking at things.

The museum has been entrusted with Gyoshu’s valuable materials, including diaries, letters, and materials on art from all ages and cultures and on anatomy, and has been organizing and researching them. While the organization of the materials has progressed, the museum says, the interpretation of the works has only just begun, and this exhibition rereads the works “innovatively” in light of these materials. About 100 works from across Japan are brought together in four chapters. The chapter titles and list of works have not been announced; the one work named so far is “Maiko of Kyoto” (1920, Tokyo National Museum), which is on display only from March 19 to April 11, 2027.

Who was Gyoshu Hayami? A Nihonga painter who died at 40

According to the museum’s biography, Gyoshu was born in Asakusa, Tokyo, in 1894. His real name was Eiichi Makita. In 1908 he entered the painting school of Matsumoto Fuko, and in 1914 he exhibited at the Japan Art Institute exhibition and became an associate member. In 1917 he was made a full member on the strength of “Six Scenes in the Outskirts of Kyoto,” a work later lost in the Great Kanto Earthquake.

In 1930 he toured Europe accompanying the Exhibition of Japanese Art in Rome, and in 1935 he contracted typhoid fever and died at age 40. Gyoshu’s “Two Studies of Insects: A Demon’s Hand in the Shade of Leaves; Adorned Moths at Play” is also on view in the Yamatane Museum of Art’s 60th anniversary exhibition “The Best of the Yamatane Collection I” (until December 6).

Summer brings Akira Yamaguchi’s “Mi/Se/Mono,” and autumn a Milton Avery exhibition

“Akira Yamaguchi: Mi/Se/Mono” runs from Friday, June 18 to Sunday, August 29, 2027, organized by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and The Mainichi Newspapers. Its content and number of works have not been announced, and the museum’s page shows an image of Akira Yamaguchi’s “Tale of Tokyo” (2023).

According to materials from Mizuma Art Gallery, which represents him, Akira Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo in 1969 and raised in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture. He has created public art for Narita International Airport and for Nihombashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, as well as sliding-door paintings for the Yorin-an study hall at Byodoin. In 2013 he received the 12th Hideo Kobayashi Prize for “Hen na Nihon Bijutsushi” (A Strange History of Japanese Art; Shodensha). At the Yamatane Museum of Art’s “The Best of the Yamatane Collection II” (December 12, 2026 – March 7, 2027), a new work he painted for the museum’s 60th anniversary will be shown for the first time.

The “Milton Avery Exhibition (provisional title)” runs from Saturday, October 9, 2027 to Sunday, January 30, 2028. The museum’s page lists only The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and The Mainichi Newspapers as co-organizers, and its content has not been announced.

Opening hours, closing days and access

For all three exhibitions, opening hours are 10:00–17:00, until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays; during the Gyoshu Hayami exhibition it is open on March 22, March 29 and May 3 and closed on March 23 and May 6.

The nearest station is Takebashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, a 3-minute walk from Exit 1b. It is a 15-minute walk from Exit 4 of Kudanshita Station and Exit A1 of Jimbocho Station. From Friday, October 23 to Monday, January 11, 2027 (national holiday), the museum holds “Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era.” The 2027 schedules of other museums are gathered in our 2027 exhibition schedule.

Editor’s perspective

The Gyoshu exhibition promises a rereading guided by the materials entrusted to the museum. It runs for about seven weeks, and some works, such as “Maiko of Kyoto,” are on display only for limited periods. Once the list of works and the schedule of display changes are released, it will be worth checking the display periods of the works you want to see.

Overview

Name: Innovative! Gyoshu Hayami
Dates: Friday, March 19 – Sunday, May 9, 2027
Closed: Mondays (open on March 22, March 29 and May 3), March 23, May 6
Organizers: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Mainichi Newspapers, Nikkei Inc.
Official website: https://art.nikkei.com/gyoshu2027/

Name: Akira Yamaguchi: Mi/Se/Mono
Dates: Friday, June 18 – Sunday, August 29, 2027
Closed: Mondays
Organizers: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Mainichi Newspapers

Name: Milton Avery Exhibition (provisional title)
Dates: Saturday, October 9, 2027 – Sunday, January 30, 2028
Closed: Mondays
Co-organizers: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, The Mainichi Newspapers

Venue: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 1F Special Exhibition Gallery
Address: 3-1 Kitanomaru Koen, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Not yet announced for any of the three exhibitions
Official website: https://www.momat.go.jp/exhibitions
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Exterior of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, October 2019 (photo: Edomura no Tokuzo, CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the official website of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (as of October 19, 2026) and published materials from Mizuma Art Gallery and the Yamatane Museum of Art.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team