This museum absolutely thrilled me for its creativity. This is a picture of the Chichu Museum—chichu means “in the ground” and this unique museum is just that. The only things that show on top of the ground are the skylights. The architect is Tadao Ando. The museum is on one of the Art Islands in the Inland sea. It is on Naoshima Island.
The whole museum has only 3 artists: Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria. Each of the 3 galleries has its own skylight shape. Monet’s is square with a narrow border. Turrell’s is a “square U” shape. DeMaria’s galley has 2 skylights: one large and one small. I figured out from the photo what all the skylights were for. Besides the artists’ galleries there is one for a triangular courtyard, a square courtyard, a narrow, 26-foot-long bench in a sitting area, and one for just a wall.
Monet’s paintings were large in a huge room. One painting measured 6 ½ feet x 19 ½ feet. They were all waterlilies done at the end of his career. To me they were too fuzzy, not what I expected. One painting per wall.
The Turrell exhibit had a line waiting so we missed that, but the Walter DeMaria room was a marvel—and extremely interesting to me. The room was large—79 feet x 33 feet. One could climb up the steps, but we didn’t. The point was that the light from the skylights changed with the time of day as well as the time of the year and that reflected on the sphere as well. The small skylight was at the top of the steps, out of sight. As we walked from one side to the other, what we saw in the sphere changed with the change of perspective. When we were walking back and forth, so many other things in the room changed, too.
The gold posts were interesting too as the light changed. Sometimes they seemed like lamps, sometimes like gilded posts. The 3 posts in the groups were triangular, square and pentagonal (5-sided). However, of the 27 sculptures, no 2 were in the same order. The light shone brighter on the surfaces catching the light making the “space imbued with an air of tranquility”.
A note about the photo on the cover: the dark area is the narrow entrance to one of the three big galleries!
We are planning a trip to the art islands for the art islands for the fall. Which islands did you go to? Where did you stay?
Sketchy but i think accurate.
Peggy,
PS The Art Islands are fabulous–so creative and unexpected installations around.
From Takamatsu (JR Clement Takamatsu hotel) we took a speed boat (chartered)to Inujima–Inujima Seirensho Art Museum (ruins of a copper factory and interesting) and 4 galleries. Then the boat again to Naoshima island for a collection of wondeful museums, art spaces and projects. I loved the Teshima Art Museum (a favorite). To two hotels two nights: Park Hotel, Naoshima and Benesse House. It’s tricky to get a reservation in this Benesse At Site. Our group was divided because they forbid tour groups. It’s tricky to get a reservation at both hotels, too. I think you have to call at midnight a certain number of days in advance. The same at the Park Hotel. We spent the next day on Naoshima. That’s where the museum with only the skylights were above ground: Chichu Museum (need an appointment aahead of time) Fabulous. Probably a reservation needed at Teshima Art Museum, too.
The next day
Thank you Peggy. You’ve sent me on a journey seeking out more photos of this incredible architectural masterpiece. I may live a small life but…
Thank you for a lovely description and photos from this exhibit