The Collection Gallery exhibits selected works of nihonga (Japanese-style painting), yoga (Western-style painting), prints, sculpture, crafts (including ceramics, textiles, metalwork, wood and bamboo craft, lacquerware and jewelry), and photography from the museum collection. Also shown are outstanding and historic works of Japanese modern art, as well as modern and contemporary European and American art.

At the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, small-scale exhibits have been presented in parts of the Collection Gallery, in which curators present the results of their ongoing studies. In April 2008, we expanded this initiative and launched a new program to diversify both research and the presentation of its outcomes.

This series, named Curatorial Studies, extends the scope of study beyond works in the museum’s collection, to encompass various issues that have been brought to curators’ attention as a result of museum activities. External collaborators with expertise in specific research themes are invited, and we envision the results of collaborative research being presented in various forms such as exhibitions and publication of papers. The goal of Curatorial Studies is to utilize findings for basic research that contributes to future exhibitions.