Oita Prefectural Art Museum

This art museum opened in central Oita City in 2015 and is commonly known as OPAM. Under the theme “A Museum of Encounters and the Five Senses,” it presents works by artists associated with Oita as well as special exhibitions featuring culture, tradition, contemporary art, performing arts, and other forms of artistic expression.

The museum also embraces the concepts of being “a museum that feels like your own living room” and “a museum that grows together with the people of Oita.” It aims to be an inviting place where everyone, from children to seniors, can drop in casually and grow alongside the museum.

The museum was designed by renowned architect Shigeru Ban and his team. Its open, airy interior features a glass-walled atrium filled with sunlight and a distinctive ceiling inspired by traditional bamboo crafts.

Collection exhibitions are held several times a year, each based on a particular theme. The collection centers on paintings and calligraphy by Chikuden Tanomura, who laid the foundations of the Bungo Nanga school during the Edo period, as well as works by masters of modern Japanese painting such as Heihachiro Fukuda and Tatsuo Takayama. The museum also regularly holds public workshops and has a cafe where visitors can relax after viewing the exhibits, along with a museum shop selling items created by local artists.