Tokyo National Museum of Western Art. The National Museum of Western Art is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The museum is located in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taito, central Tokyo. This popular Tokyo museum is also known by the English acronym NMWA. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016. The NMWA was established on June 10, 1959. The museum developed around the core art collection of Matsukata Kojiro, whose thinking is mirrored in the museum he anticipated. Matsukata's acquisition strategies were designed to create the nucleus of what he hoped would become an evolving national museum specializing in Western art. The museum exhibits works from the Renaissance to the early 20th century, many having been acquired since the museum's opening. The museum's purpose is to provide the public with opportunities to appreciate Western art. Since its opening, the museum, as Japan's only national institution devoted to Western art, has been involved in exhibitions, art work and document acquisition, research, restoration and conservation, education and the publication of materials related to Western art. The museum is involved in the development and organization of a special exhibition every year. These exhibitions feature works on loan from private collections and museums both in and out of Japan. In 1963, NMWA created a splash on the international art scene by bringing together 450 works by Marc Chagall. The exhibition brought together Chagall's work from 15 countries, including 8 paintings lent from the Soviet Union; and it was believed to be the most comprehensive show mounted during the artist's lifetime. In January 2019, it was announced that the National Gallery, London will loan over 60 paintings for a two-venue tour of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo and the National Museum of Art, Osaka in 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympics. Included within the loaned collection will be Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers, which will travel to Japan for the first time. NMWA has purchased art work every year since its establishment in its efforts to build and develop its permanent collection. The museum houses about 4,500 works, including examples of painting and sculpture from the 14th through the beginning of the 20th century. The museum's holdings have expanded in the decades since the museum was first opened to the public: Paintings; 18th century and earlier The Main Building displays pre-18th-century paintings, including those by Veronese, Rubens, Brueghel, and Fragonard. Many of these paintings are religious paintings featuring imagery from Christianity. Paintings: 19th-20th century The New Wing displays 19th-to early 20th-century French paintings, including works by Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Moreau. The galleries also feature works by the next generation of artists, such as Marquet, Picasso, Soutin, Ernst, Miro, Dubuffet and Pollock. Drawings The NMWA drawing collection centers on works by such 18th-to 19th-century French artists as Boucher, Fragonard, Delacroix, Moreau, Rodin, and Cezanne. Prints The prints collection features works by Durer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Callot, Piranesi, Goya, and Klinger, ranging from the 15th century through the early 20th century. The Union Catalog of the Collections of the National Art Museums, Japan is a consolidated catalog of material held by the four Japanese national art museums: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The National Museum of Art, Osaka. The National Museum of Western Art. The online version of this union catalog is currently under construction, with only selected works available at this time. The Main Building was designed by the Swiss architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, who is more popularly known as Le Corbusier. It is the only representative example of his work in the Far East; and the New York Times review of its opening suggested that the building itself presented an artistic significance and beauty which rivaled the paintings inside. The multi-story, reinforced concrete building was completed in March 1959 as a symbol of the resumption of diplomatic ties between Japan and France after World War II. The museum was built to house the collection of works gathered by the industrialist Matsukata Kojiro between 1920 and 1923. His collection had remained in England and France until after World War II when the Japanese Government asked France for its return to Japan. After France stipulated that a French architect should design the museum that would house the collection, the works were returned to Japan. Le Corbusier was selected for this task.