Reaching their peak in summer, water lilies start to bloom in June. Their beauty is portrayed in Monet’s well-known masterpiece, Water Lilies.

This is a large outdoor work of Water Lilies at Otsuka Museum of Art in Tokushima prefecture.
The museum was established in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Otsuka Group, which is known for a beverage called Pocari Sweat. The special feature of the museum is that you can enjoy a whole day’s worth of over 1000 masterpieces!

To start off, when you take the escalator up from the third underground floor, one of the museum’s highlights is right in front of you! The Sistine Hall is an accurate reproduction of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling and walls, which is located in Vatican City within the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope.

Actually, this art museum does not contain one single original work of art!
Maybe you’re wondering what exactly that means! Rather that being created on canvas, each work has been faithfully reproduced, full-sized, on ceramic boards.
A 6-person committee chose the masterpieces from more than 190 art museums located in 25 countries around the world. From Picasso’s Guernica, to Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, Monet’s Water Lilies and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers among other world famous masterpieces… the number of works totals, believe it or not, over 1000.

Using specialist techniques, all of these works were reproduced on ceramic boards by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd.

This is the only place in Japan you can experience a full day’s worth of world-known art works.

Also, another of this art museum’s features is that visitors are allowed to photograph everything within the building. They can take commemorative photographs together with numerous masterpieces and the Scrovegni Chapel murals, as well as the Sistine Hall.

In addition, here in the garden, Monet’s beloved water lilies will start to bloom in around June. The flowers reach their peak during summer, and can be enjoyed until October.

Within the natural style garden, you can enjoy the feeling of having stepped inside a masterpiece!

Among many other events and functions, gallery talks and lunches are arranged year-round according to various themes.

How about taking in a day’s worth of world-famous masterpieces?

*The photographs shown are of some of the works displayed at the Otsuka Museum of Art.
Otsuka Museum of Art

Address: Naruto Park, Naruto-cho, Naruto city, Tokushima prefecture 772-0053
TEL: 088-687-3737
Open: 9:30am to 5:00pm

Closed: Mondays (If Monday is a public holiday, the Museum will be closed the following day)

* The museum is closed for 5 consecutive days at New Year, but open throughout August.
Admission Fees: Elementary, Junior High School and High School students JPY 540 / University students JPY2,160 / Adults JPY 3,240
Parking: Toll-free
Homepage: http://www.o-museum.or.jp/ (Japanese)
http://o-museum.or.jp/english/ (English)

Setouchi Finder Photo-writer: Futoshi Hineno