Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art is a private art museum in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture. The museum was established to make an important collection of artworks available to the public. The collection was built over three generations of the Kawamura family, including Kijuro Kawamura.
The museum is operated by DIC Corporation, a company involved in the manufacture and sale of printing inks, pigments, polymers, and related materials. Surrounded by an extensive garden, the museum offers visitors an opportunity to enjoy both world-class art and a peaceful natural setting.
The museum opened on May 2, 1990, as the Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art on the grounds of DIC’s Research Center. The museum displayed artworks collected by DIC and its affiliated companies, whose corporate history includes the former Kawamura Ink Manufacturing Company and Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc.
On April 1, 2011, the museum was renamed the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, the name by which it is known today.
The museum is located in the countryside of Sakura City, within the approximately 300,000-square-meter grounds of DIC Corporation’s Research Center.
Surrounded by a large landscaped garden, the museum building has an elegant appearance reminiscent of a European castle or historic wine cellar. The building was designed by Ichiro Ebihara, with spacious galleries carefully arranged to create a comfortable environment for viewing art.
The museum contains spacious exhibition rooms designed to display works by major artists of modern and contemporary art.
One of its most famous spaces is the Rothko Room, dedicated to American abstract painter Mark Rothko. The room presents seven works that Rothko created for the Seagram Building in New York.
The intimate presentation of these works in a dedicated space allows visitors to experience Rothko’s large-scale abstract paintings in an environment designed specifically for them.
The museum’s collection includes major works gathered from around the world. Among the notable works listed in the museum’s major collection are:
The museum’s former collection also included works that were later transferred to organizations outside Japan.
One notable example is Barnett Newman’s Anna’s Light (1968), whose transfer was announced in 2013.
The museum once displayed important works of traditional Japanese art, including paintings by Ogata Korin and Hasegawa Tohaku.
However, the museum ended its exhibition of Japanese paintings on December 3, 2017, and works from this part of the collection were transferred to other institutions.
Among the works transferred was Birds in a Landscape by Hasegawa Tohaku, which had been designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan. Its transfer to entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa was officially announced.
In August 2024, DIC announced that it was considering a long-term closure of the museum from around late January 2025. The discussion followed advice from the company’s Value Co-Creation Committee and included possibilities such as relocating the museum to Tokyo, reducing its scale, or suspending operations.
Following the announcement of the planned closure, the number of visitors on weekends and public holidays increased dramatically, reaching approximately five times the previous level.
In response to this surge in visitors, the planned closure was postponed by approximately two months, allowing the museum to remain open until late March 2025.
In Sakura City, local efforts were also launched to call for the museum’s continued operation. More than 47,000 signatures were collected and were scheduled to be submitted to DIC.
The developments surrounding the planned closure and the subsequent increase in visitors demonstrate the significant cultural and community role that the museum has played in Sakura.
The museum’s future has attracted considerable attention from local residents and art enthusiasts, with continued interest in how its collection and activities may be preserved or developed in the years ahead.
Closed: Mondays (or the following day when Monday is a national holiday), the year-end and New Year holiday period, and during special collection and maintenance periods.
From JR East’s Sobu Main Line Sakura Station, a free shuttle bus takes approximately 20 minutes to reach the museum.
From Keisei Sakura Station on the Keisei Main Line, the free shuttle bus takes approximately 30 minutes.
Visitors traveling from central Tokyo can also take a highway bus from the Yaesu Exit of Tokyo Station toward the National Museum of Japanese History. The journey takes approximately 1 hour 20 minutes to the DIC Kawamura Museum of Art bus stop.
Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art has long been an important cultural destination in Sakura City, bringing together an internationally significant art collection, elegant architecture, and a spacious natural environment.
Its collection has included masterpieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, Pollock, Rothko, and Stella, while the museum’s dedicated Rothko Room has been one of its particularly distinctive features.
The museum’s history also reflects changing approaches to collecting and exhibiting art, including the transfer of its Japanese paintings collection and the discussions surrounding its future operation.
For visitors exploring Sakura and the wider Chiba area, the museum represents a memorable meeting point between world-class art, architecture, gardens, and Japanese cultural life.