National Museum of Art, Osaka

The National Museum of Art, Osaka, at 4-2-55 Nakanoshima in Kita Ward, Osaka, Japan, specialises in modern and contemporary art and is notable for being built almost entirely underground. The museum originated in the former Expo '70 Art Museum in Suita and moved to Nakanoshima in 2004, in a building designed by architect Cesar Pelli. Above ground, a sculptural steel structure of curved metal tubes resembling bamboo stalks forms the entrance, while the galleries sit below ground level, spread over several floors. The permanent collection of about 8,000 works includes Japanese and international art from the postwar period onwards, with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami represented at times, alongside Japanese avant-garde and Gutai group pieces. Regular special exhibitions draw on loans from major museums and are charged separately. Visitors descend by escalators into a bright atrium, then follow galleries that rotate through collection themes. The ground floor has a museum shop and the lower floors house a cafe and restaurant. A visit usually takes one and a half to two hours. The museum opens at 10:00 AM, closes at 5:00 PM, and stays open until 8:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays during exhibition periods. It is closed on Mondays. Weekday afternoons are the quietest, whereas the final days of a popular special exhibition can bring queues. The building is a few minutes on foot from Nakanoshima Station on the Keihan Nakanoshima Line and about five minutes from Higobashi Station on the Osaka Metro Yotsubashi Line. It sits alongside the Osaka Science Museum and the riverside gardens of Nakanoshima, so it combines easily with a stroll through the park.