“The New Vision” Marks 100 Years Since Monet’s Death at the Pola Museum of Art Until April 2027; 19 Monets in Dialogue with Contemporary Artists

“Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Monet’s Death and the Museum’s 25th Anniversary – The New Vision: Monet and the Contemporary Gaze” is being held at the Pola Museum of Art (Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture). It runs from Wednesday, June 17, 2026 to Wednesday, April 7, 2027. All 19 oil paintings by Claude Monet in the museum’s collection are on display, combined with works by 18 contemporary artists and groups from Japan and abroad working in the 21st century. Extending from the galleries to the lobby and the outdoor “Forest Trail,” the exhibition reexamines Monet’s “eye” from a contemporary perspective.

The 100th anniversary of his death and the museum’s 25th: reexamining Monet’s “eye”

The exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of Monet’s death and the 25th anniversary of the Pola Museum of Art, which opened in September 2002. The museum’s collection is based on works collected from the late 1950s by Tsuneshi Suzuki (1930–2000), the second-generation head of the POLA founding family. It centers on paintings from the 19th to the first half of the 20th century and is particularly rich in French Impressionism.

According to the museum, its 19 oil paintings by Monet form the largest Monet collection in Asia, tracing the development of his career from the 1870s to the 1900s. The exhibition focuses on Monet’s “eye,” which is said to have astonished his contemporary Cézanne. According to a press release of August 18, 2026, it approaches the connections between Monet and contemporary art not as a flow of art history but through five themes: “Camera,” “Time,” “River,” “Life” and “Garden.” The themes cut across the galleries and loosely link the inside and outside of the museum.

What can be seen? 19 Monets and 18 contemporary artists and groups

The Monet works range from a realistic work of 1872 to a 1908 work in which light and color melt together. “Flowering Riverbank, Argenteuil” (1877) contrasts flowering nature with smoking factories in the industrializing suburbs of Paris. “Sunset on the Seine, Winter Effect” (1880) depicts the Seine thawing in Vétheuil during a severe winter, at the time when he had lost his wife Camille. Other works include “Rouen Cathedral” (1892), “The Water Lily Pond” (1899), “The Houses of Parliament, Symphony in Rose” (1900) and “Water Lilies” (1907). Western art exhibitions that can be seen this autumn and winter are gathered in our guide to Western art exhibitions.

The contemporary works are presented not as art-historical comparisons with Monet but as “creative dialogues.” Their forms range widely, from fog sculpture and large installations to video, glass, sound and performance. The main works introduced on the official website are as follows.

• Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “‘Untitled’ (Portrait of Marcel Brient)” (1992): a work using candy. In this exhibition, the blue candies are displayed as blocks of ice and the light bulbs as the setting sun

• Tao Nguyen Phan, “Becoming Alluvium” (2019): a video work by the Ho Chi Minh City-based artist that treats colonialism and industrialization poetically and takes as its subject the 2018 collapse of a dam on a tributary of the Mekong River

• Su-Mei Tse, “A Certain Frame 3 (Paris, Venice, Giverny)” (2026): the latest work in a series that reconsiders places through inverted landscapes reflected in spheres; a large new commission acquired by the museum

• Noémie Goudal, “Stories of Permanence” (2025): the French artist turns illusionistic, stage-set-like landscapes into photographs and videos. For her latest series, “Delta,” she recreated Carboniferous vegetation together with a paleobotanist

As new acquisitions, in addition to works by Gonzalez-Torres and Su-Mei Tse, a work combining photographs and text by Roni Horn is shown for the first time. Four artists, Lucas Arruda, Noémie Goudal, Yojiro Imasaka and Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, are being introduced by a Japanese museum for the first time. Imasaka, based in New York since 2007, is known for wet-plate photographs taken with a large-format camera and is showing his “Wet Land” series. Other participants include Pierre Huyghe, Wolfgang Tillmans, Amar Kanwar, Kapwani Kiwanga and Ritsue Mishima, and works by Émile Gallé and Georges Seurat are also included.

Fog and sound on the Forest Trail: the exhibition extends outside the museum

On the outdoor “Forest Trail,” Fujiko Nakaya’s “Fog Promenade Sengokuhara,” Fog Sculpture #47721 (2026), appears every hour on the hour and at half past. It is suspended when temperatures fall below freezing, and the suspension periods will be announced on the museum’s website. From deep in the forest, the sound of Susan Philipsz’s “Wind Wood” echoes.

The trail is about 1 km long and takes about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace. It is open from 9:00 to 16:30 and closed on days when the museum is closed. It may be closed without notice in bad weather.

Tickets, prices, opening hours and access to Hakone

Admission (tax included) is 2,200 yen for adults and 1,700 yen for university and high school students, and junior high school students and younger are free. Holders of a disability certificate and one companion pay 1,100 yen. Groups of 15 or more pay 1,900 yen (adults) and 1,400 yen (university and high school students). Advance tickets (adults 2,000 yen, university and high school students 1,500 yen) are sold at Hakone-Yumoto and Gora stations of the Hakone Tozan Railway, Hakone Tozan Bus information centers and elsewhere. Online tickets are also available.

Opening hours are 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30). The museum is open every day during the exhibition, but the entire museum will be closed on Tuesday, December 1, 2026 for an exhibition changeover. When crowded, the number of people in the galleries may be limited.

By train, take the Tokaido Shinkansen “Kodama” from Tokyo Station to Odawara Station (about 35 minutes). Continue on the Hakone Tozan Line to Hakone-Yumoto Station (about 15 minutes) and on the Hakone Tozan Railway to Gora Station (about 40 minutes); from Gora Station, a free shuttle bus takes about 8 minutes. The shuttle bus runs 13 times a day, about every 30 minutes, and as capacity is limited, you may not be able to board when it is full. From Busta Shinjuku and elsewhere, the Odakyu Hakone Highway Bus takes about 2 hours to “Sengoku-ro,” where you transfer to the sightseeing facilities loop bus and get off at “Pola Museum of Art” (about 3 minutes). By car, it is about 25 minutes via Route 138 from the Gotemba Interchange on the Tomei Expressway. The adjacent parking lot holds 129 cars and costs 700 yen per day. Also in Hakone, the Hakone Museum of Art in Gora pre-opened on October 30 after its renovation. A program depicting the relationship between Monet and Japanese art with video and sound is screened at THE MOVEUM YOKOHAMA until March 31, 2027.

Frequently asked questions

Are reservations required?

Individual visitors do not need to reserve a date and time. Groups of 15 or more and visitors arriving by chartered bus must reserve in advance.

Can the fog sculpture be seen at any time?

It appears every hour on the hour and at half past, but is suspended when temperatures fall below freezing. If you visit in winter, check the suspension periods on the museum’s website.

Can I eat at the museum?

There are a restaurant, a café and a museum shop. Visitors are asked not to eat or drink in the galleries, including water, candy and gum.

Overview

Name: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Monet’s Death and the Museum’s 25th Anniversary – The New Vision: Monet and the Contemporary Gaze
Dates: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 – Wednesday, April 7, 2027
Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Open every day during the exhibition (closed Tuesday, December 1, 2026)
Venue: Galleries 1, 2 and 4, Atrium Gallery, Lobby and Forest Trail, Pola Museum of Art
Address: 1285 Kozukayama, Sengokuhara, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
Admission: Adults 2,200 yen, university and high school students 1,700 yen, junior high school students and younger free (tax included)
Organizer: Pola Museum of Art, Pola Art Foundation
Curators: Yohoko Iwasaki (Head of Curatorial Section, Pola Museum of Art), Kota Suzuki (Senior Curator, Pola Museum of Art)
Inquiries: 0460-84-2111
Official website: https://www.polamuseum.or.jp/sp/the-new-vision/
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

For how ukiyo-e influenced Monet and Van Gogh, see What Is Japonisme? How Ukiyo-e Influenced Monet and Van Gogh.

*Top image: Fujiko Nakaya, “Fog Promenade Sengokuhara,” Fog Sculpture #47721, 2026, installation view: “The New Vision: Monet and the Contemporary Gaze,” Pola Museum of Art, 2026, photo: Shu Nakagawa (from a press release by the Pola Museum of Art, Pola Art Foundation)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Pola Museum of Art, Pola Art Foundation (August 18, 2026) and information on the official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team