Message from the Director
This museum is a space that we have prepared in our beloved Karuizawa, with the feeling that we are inviting everyone into our home.
Humans can lose their way, at the mercy of fate that is beyond their control, or the jealousy and greed that is part of human nature.
My wife and I have been able to overcome these worries and hardships by talking to Fujita's cats and girls at home.
Foujita, who gained fame during the Ecole de Paris era, was also at the mercy of many unexpected events, including separation from loved ones, two wars, and the jealousy of some people. The lovely cats and young girls and the noble Madonna and Child that he painted in his later years were painted in the utopia that he reached after overcoming these difficulties and making France his final home, and perhaps this is why they inspire our sympathy.
This museum has been designed to allow visitors to leisurely enjoy the journey that Foujita took to reach this utopia.
We hope that the home you will be staying in from now on will be a place where you can return to with peace of mind.
Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art Representative Director Yasushi Ando
Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art Director Ando Megumi
Message from the Director
Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art is the first private museum in Japan, and even the world, to exhibit only the works of Foujita Tsuguharu. The museum's founder, Representative Director Yasushi Ando, and his wife have been collecting Foujita's works for many years, cherishing them on the walls of their home. Attracted by works featuring cute cats and young girls, the collection began with a wide range of works from his early period to his later years, and has become so rich that it impresses Foujita researchers both in Japan and abroad. It is no exaggeration to say that the Ando Collection, which is on permanent display at the museum, is the largest and highest quality collection ever collected by a private individual.
Currently, Fujita's works are actively traded around the world, but for Ando, Fujita's paintings were not something he wanted to be evaluated by experts or invest in, but something he wanted to keep close at hand and cherish forever. As the manager of an investment fund company, he throws himself into the tough world of finance every day, and he says that the time he spent with his family looking at Fujita's cute cats and girls was the most relaxing thing he could have done. And so, one by one, Fujita's works were hung on the walls of Ando's residence.
While spending time surrounded by Fujita's paintings and feeling a sense of healing and bliss, he suddenly began to feel anxious and wondered what would happen to the works after he died. His desire to not let his works, which were like his children, be scattered, eventually gave rise to the desire to build a museum.
It was a long journey from acquiring the land to actually starting construction to completion, and it was by no means easy, with the COVID-19 pandemic along the way. However, thanks to the cooperation of those around them who wanted to make the couple's vision a reality, they were able to successfully open the museum.
We hope that visitors will feel as if they have been invited into the "Ando couple's home," which is the concept of our museum, and take their time to appreciate Foujita's works. We sincerely hope that visitors will love this unprecedented museum, which includes everything from his early works to his later religious paintings, with a focus on the cute cats and girls that were the starting point of the collection, for a long time to come.
Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art Director Masami Mizuno
