Sagawa Art Museum Renewal: "Changes in Art Museums" Seen Through Renovation

Sagawa Art Museum reopens after a 9-month closure

Located near Lake Biwa in Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture, the Sagawa Art Museum reopened on July 1, 2026, following a long-term closure of approximately nine months.

When people think of the Sagawa Art Museum, many likely recall its unique landscape, where the building appears to float on a water garden.

Opened in 1998 as part of a project commemorating the 40th anniversary of Sagawa Express, the museum houses a collection centered on Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama, sculptor Churyo Sato, and ceramic artist Raku Jikinyu, and the architecture itself has been highly acclaimed.

This renovation is the largest since the museum's opening.

However, looking at the details reveals something interesting.

This is not just a measure against aging.

Rather, I believe it is a renovation that is closer to an answer to the question, "What will be required of art museums in the future?"

A major change is the range of "exhibitable works"

This time, I would like to pay particular attention to the expansion of the exhibition rooms.

Approximately 230 square meters that were formerly storage areas have been connected to the existing exhibition rooms, transforming them into a flexible exhibition space of about 430 square meters.

Why is this important?

Because in contemporary art, works are not necessarily "paintings to be hung on a wall."

Works themselves are becoming larger and more complex, including massive three-dimensional pieces, video, sound, and installations that use the entire space.

If the works change, the museum must naturally change as well.

No matter how excellent a work is, an exhibition cannot be realized without a space to display it.

Regarding this renovation, the Sagawa Art Museum itself cites responding to the diversifying forms of works, including "installation art that requires large exhibition spaces"as a reason.

In other words, through this renewal, it can be seen that the Sagawa Art Museum has become a museum capable of organizing more contemporary exhibitions than ever before.

Furthermore, the storage area has also been expanded to about 2.5 times its previous size.

For an art museum, storage is invisible from the outside but extremely important.

As works are added through purchases and donations, storage space is naturally required.

The significant expansion of the storage area is something to keep an eye on when considering future collection development.

From a "place to see" to a "place to engage"

Another interesting point is the new construction of a multi-purpose room of approximately 100 square meters.

It is a space dedicated to events such as lectures and workshops.

In the past, to put it extremely, art museums were "places to collect, preserve, and exhibit works."

However, today, that is not all.

Art museums are increasingly required to fulfill a role as educational institutions, including workshops for children, art lectures, talk events, and interaction with the local community.

Instead of unilaterally "showing" works, visitors think about, learn about, and participate in art.

I feel that the Sagawa Art Museum's new multi-purpose room symbolizes this change in the role of art museums.

It is also important that the charm of the architecture was not destroyed

And what I would like to personally praise is the fact that the charm of the existing architecture was not significantly altered.

The Sagawa Art Museum has value not only in its exhibited works but also in the space itself, including the building and the water garden.

Even in this renovation, it was clearly kept in mind not to impair that architectural beauty.

In the promenade, the zelkova trees that showed poor growth were reorganized, and Katsura trees that prefer waterside environments were newly planted. Furthermore, a hedge of Japanese evergreen oaks was installed so that the parking lot would be less visible from the water garden.

Rather than flashy rebuilding, the functions were updated while preserving the existing beauty.

I think this is a very Sagawa Art Museum-like choice.

And the first special exhibition held after the renewal is "Hiroshi Senju: The Sound of Water, the Resonance of Water".

Hiroshi Senju, who has continued to depict water symbolically, and the Sagawa Art Museum, which features a water garden.

As the first installment of the renewal, it is a very compatible combination.

Looking ahead, "140th Anniversary of the Birth of Tsuguharu Foujita: 7 Passions" is scheduled for September, and the "Great Capcom Exhibition" is planned for December.

From Japanese painting, modern Western painting, and contemporary art, to game culture.

From this lineup, one can see that the Sagawa Art Museum is gradually trying to expand the framework of "art".

What is interesting about this renewal is not that the exterior was dramatically changed.

It is that the content of the museum itself—"what can be exhibited," "what can be stored," and "how to engage with visitors"—has been updated.

Art museums, too, must change with the times.

28 years since opening in 1998.

With this renovation, has the Sagawa Art Museum not acquired a vessel to respond to the next era, while retaining its architectural beauty?

*I am writing primary information on the art market from the gallery floor.

I summarize in concrete terms in paid articles the movements of artists, buyers, sales, and industry structures that I have actually seen on the gallery floor, which I cannot write about in free articles.