“Van Gogh’s Drawbridge and the Impressionists” at Nagoya City Art Museum Until November 29; 70 Works from a Cologne Museum

At the Nagoya City Art Museum (Naka-ku, Nagoya), “Van Gogh’s Drawbridge and the Impressionists: From the Collection of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum” is on view until Sunday, November 29. It presents 70 works by 42 painters, centered on Impressionism and including the periods before and after it, from the collection of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne, Germany. According to the museum, “The Drawbridge” (1888), painted by Van Gogh during his Arles period, is being shown in Nagoya for the first time. Nagoya is the third venue of the tour, following the Utsunomiya Museum of Art and the Abeno Harukas Art Museum.

Why has it come to Japan now? The Cologne museum is closing for renovation

The Nagoya City Art Museum describes the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud as one of Germany’s leading art museums, with a collection of about 70,000 works. The museum plans a long closure for major renovation work, and during that period works are touring Utsunomiya, Osaka and Nagoya. According to Quaras Inc., which cooperated in planning the exhibition, works including “The Drawbridge” cannot be seen even in Germany for at least about two years. The exhibition is covered by the government’s indemnity scheme for artworks.

The tour runs from the Utsunomiya Museum of Art (Sunday, April 19 – Sunday, June 21, 2026) to the Abeno Harukas Art Museum (Saturday, July 4 – Wednesday, September 9), with Nagoya as the third venue.

Highlights: Van Gogh’s “The Drawbridge” is the last of five

“The Drawbridge” is one of the key works of Van Gogh’s Arles period, sometimes called his golden age. The Nagoya City Art Museum notes that at this time Van Gogh was in a stable frame of mind and full of creative drive. According to the materials on the exhibition’s structure, this is the last of the five paintings of the drawbridge at Arles that Van Gogh made. Quaras says this is the first time in about 10 years that the work has come to Japan.

From Saturday, February 6, 2027, “The Great Van Gogh Exhibition: The Langlois Bridge at Arles” will be held at the Kobe City Museum. It will show “The Langlois Bridge at Arles” (mid-March 1888, oil), owned by the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, and according to the Kobe City Museum it is the first time in about 70 years that the painting has been shown in Japan. It is a different work, owned by a different museum, from the “Drawbridge” in Nagoya, and the two exhibitions do not overlap.

What works can be seen? Six chapters tracing the periods before and after Impressionism

The exhibition consists of six chapters: “Before Impressionism,” “The Barbizon School,” “Impressionism,” “Post-Impressionism,” “Pointillism” and “20th-Century Colorists.” In addition to Impressionist painters such as Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Caillebotte, the museum introduces Barbizon School painters such as Millet and Corot, who influenced the Impressionists. Manet and Courbet, the Pointillists Signac and Seurat, the Post-Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin, and even Matisse, Bonnard and Utrillo are also on view.

The main works are as follows (all from the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud).

• Vincent van Gogh, “The Drawbridge,” 1888

• Édouard Manet, “Bunch of Asparagus,” 1880: According to an anecdote, when a collector paid 1,000 francs for this 800-franc work, Manet sent him a painting of a single asparagus spear (1880, Musée d’Orsay)

• Claude Monet, “Fishing Boats on the Beach at Étretat,” 1883–84: Painted when Monet was 43 or 44, it captures rough waves and a chilly scene with brisk brushstrokes

• Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Jean Renoir Sewing,” 1898: A portrait of his second son, Jean, at age four

• Paul Cézanne, “Still Life with Pears,” c. 1885

• Paul Gauguin, “Breton Boy,” 1889

• Paul Signac, “Capo di Noli,” 1898

• Pierre Bonnard, “In a Boat, Vernon,” 1912: Seated in the boat on the Seine is Marthe, who later became Bonnard’s wife

• Camille Corot, “Ville-d’Avray,” c. 1860–70

In addition, the exhibition’s official website introduces Camille Pissarro’s “Farm at Bazincourt,” Jean-François Millet’s “Reclining Nude” and Eugène Boudin’s “Trouville, the Beach.”

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 1,900 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for high school and university students, and free for junior high school students and younger (tax included). Groups of 20 or more pay 1,700 yen (adults) and 800 yen (high school and university students). People with disabilities and patients with designated intractable diseases, together with up to two companions, pay half the same-day price on presentation of a disability certificate (Mirairo ID accepted) or a recipient certificate. Visitors who come using a Nagoya City Transportation Bureau “Donichi Eco Kippu,” “One-Day Pass” or “24-Hour Pass” on the day receive 100 yen off, and those showing a “Nagoya City Art Museum Collection Gallery Season Pass” receive 200 yen off (discounts cannot be combined). Buyers of high school and university student tickets or disability tickets, as well as junior high school students, must show a student ID, disability certificate or similar document at the reception on the day.

Advance ticket sales have ended, and the official page states that same-day tickets are sold until “15:00 on Sunday, November 29.” The exhibition ticket also admits visitors to the collection galleries. The official page makes no mention of timed entry.

Opening hours are 9:30–17:00, until 20:00 on Fridays (last entry 30 minutes before closing). The museum is closed on Mondays but open on November 23. It is an 8-minute walk south from Exit 5 of Fushimi Station on the Higashiyama and Tsurumai subway lines, a 7-minute walk north from Exit 2 of Osu Kannon Station on the Tsurumai Line, and a 10-minute walk west from Exit 4 of Yabacho Station on the Meijo Line.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an audio guide or catalogue?

The audio guide costs 700 yen per device (tax included) and is narrated by voice actor Takuya Sato. Payment is by cash or PayPay. According to Quaras, the official catalogue has 192 pages covering all exhibited works and costs 2,800 yen (tax included). The exhibition shop also sells magnets exclusive to the Nagoya venue (900 yen each), in three designs: Van Gogh’s “The Drawbridge,” Manet’s “Bunch of Asparagus” and Henri-Edmond Cross’s “Sunset over the Sea” (1896).

Are there lectures or events?

A lecture series by Katsunori Fukaya, counselor of the Nagoya City Art Museum, continues with “Sensibility or Intellect? Impressionism and Post-Impressionism” on Saturday, October 24 and “Approaching Modern Art: Pointillism and Color” on Sunday, November 22. Both start at 14:00 and last about 90 minutes in the 2nd-floor auditorium, with a capacity of 180 (first come, first served) and free admission. An exhibition ticket (the stub of a used ticket is also accepted) is required to attend. On Monday, October 26, when the museum is closed, a “Relaxed Viewing Day” will be held for parents with preschool children and for people holding a disability certificate or similar and their companions, with advance application required.

Editor’s perspective

This touring exhibition brings a substantial part of the collection to Japan, prompted by the Cologne museum’s closure. Rather than presenting Impressionism on its own, it links the Barbizon School through to the 20th-century colorists in six chapters, presenting them as a current in modern painting.

The Nagoya run ends on November 29 and the Great Van Gogh Exhibition in Kobe begins on February 6, 2027, so the two drawbridges Van Gogh painted in Arles in the same year, 1888, can be seen in separate exhibitions. Western art exhibitions are gathered in [2026–2027] Guide to Western Art Exhibitions, and events in the Tokai region in [Autumn/Winter 2026] Art and Light Events in Nagoya, Aichi, Gifu and Mie.

Overview

Name: Van Gogh’s Drawbridge and the Impressionists: From the Collection of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum
Dates: Saturday, September 19 – Sunday, November 29, 2026
Hours: 9:30–17:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays; last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open on November 23)
Venue: Nagoya City Art Museum
Address: 2-17-25 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya (in Shirakawa Park, the Forest of Arts and Science)
Admission: Adults 1,900 yen, high school and university students 1,000 yen, junior high school students and younger free (tax included)
Organizers: Nagoya City Board of Education / Nagoya City Art Museum, The Chunichi Shimbun, Tokai Television Broadcasting
Supported by: Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Nagoya Municipal Elementary and Junior High School PTA Council, JR Central
Sponsor: Gomuno Inaki Co., Ltd.
Cooperation: Yamato Transport, Nagoya City Transportation Bureau
Planning cooperation: Quaras
Official website: https://art-museum.city.nagoya.jp/exhibitions/post/van_gogh_and_the_impressionists/
*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: Vincent van Gogh, “The Drawbridge,” 1888, oil on canvas, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne (from a press release by Quaras Inc.)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from Quaras Inc., which cooperated in planning the exhibition (April 28, 2026), and information on the Nagoya City Art Museum’s official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team