DINZ德网 | Le Corbusier · 可生长的美术馆

The establishment of the National Museum of Western Art stemmed from Sino-French cultural cooperation. In 1954, during his visit to Japan, Georges Salles, the director of the Louvre Museum, proposed the construction of a new museum in Ueno. Japan ultimately selected the former site of Ryun-in Temple in Ueno Park as the museum's location. The core collection of the museum is the "Matsukata Collection" amassed by industrialist Matsukata Hitoshiro, which includes French artworks such as Impressionist paintings and Rodin sculptures. During his tenure as president of Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd. in the early 20th century, Matsukata Hitoshiro acquired a vast number of European art treasures with the aim of establishing a Western art museum in Japan.

However, during World War II, nearly 400 artworks stored in France were confiscated by the French authorities as enemy property. After the war, through negotiations, France agreed to return the artworks as personal assets on the condition that Japan would build a dedicated museum designed by a French architect. To meet this requirement, Japan invited the modernist architectural master Le Corbusier to oversee the design, ultimately resulting in the construction of this museum in Ueno. Thus, Matsukata Hitoshiro's long-cherished dream of "creating a Western art museum" was realized through the National Museum of Western Art, providing a permanent home for his collection.

The National Museum of Western Art was designed and built through collaboration between Le Corbusier and three of his Japanese disciples. Sakakura Junzo and Yoshikawa Takamasa were responsible for the architectural design, while Maekawa Kunio oversaw the construction supervision. Le Corbusier's initial drawings only outlined the building's form and spatial layout, with construction details, equipment systems, and unspecified dimensions supplemented by the Japanese team based on the "Modulor" theory. Throughout the construction process, the design team engaged in multiple in-depth discussions, ultimately creating a building that is itself a work of art, with its spatial aesthetics harmonizing with the European paintings and sculptures displayed inside.

The building fully realizes Le Corbusier's early concept of the "Musée à croissance illimitée" (Museum of Unlimited Growth). First proposed in his 1939 design sketches, this concept aimed to achieve infinite expansibility through a modular structure. Le Corbusier designed the museum in the shape of a spiral shell, allowing for future extensions by adding new exhibition halls outward. This innovative design concept was only implemented in two of Le Corbusier's projects during his career: the Chandigarh project in India and the National Museum of Western Art, demonstrating a profound integration of modern architecture and art exhibition spaces.

The museum's exterior is clad in prefabricated concrete panels fixed by U-shaped frames supported by interior walls, forming an enveloping structure. The main building adopts a reinforced concrete framework, with columns retaining their smooth, as-cast concrete finish. This choice of materials and construction technique not only meets the functional requirements of modern architecture but also reflects Le Corbusier's pursuit of architectural authenticity, directly showcasing material properties and construction logic by exposing structural elements. As noted by Fujiki Tadanori, this design fosters a profound resonance between architectural space and humanistic spirit.

The museum's forecourt displays several world-class sculptures, including Auguste Rodin's The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and Antoine Bourdelle's Hercules the Archer. The combination of their public accessibility and artistic value creates a unique cultural experience.

The entrance area features a wall-less design, supported solely by columns, known as the "pilotis" system—one of Le Corbusier's "Five Points of Architecture." This structure creates an open space that connects the ground floor with the outdoors, evoking a sense of lightness and transparency. Viewed from the front, the building's entrance seamlessly blends with the external environment, blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces and fully embodying the modern architectural pursuit of openness and fluidity.

The museum's floor plan is square, with seven evenly spaced cast-in-place concrete columns along each side. These columns separate from the walls on the second floor, forming independent structural elements. The main body of the building is elevated to the first-floor level by a pilotis system. Le Corbusier originally envisioned guiding visitors into the museum through a ground-floor colonnade and a central hall, but due to initial spatial constraints and poor circulation planning, the entrance area was long used as an exit. During subsequent renovations, a glass curtain wall was added to expand the ground-floor boundary, transforming the courtyard into an indoor space; the western restrooms were removed and replaced with an open gift shop; and the eastern space was fully opened up with the completion of Maekawa Kunio's 1979 new wing, creating a transitional foyer connecting the old and new buildings. Thus, the ground floor finally fulfilled Le Corbusier's original entrance plan.

The ground floor features a soaring central hall with a triangular skylight, named the "19th-Century Hall" by Le Corbusier. Natural light filters through the ingeniously designed atrium, combined with the "cross" motif formed by the architectural structure, infusing the space with a sacred atmosphere and refreshing the viewer's perspective. Here, Le Corbusier achieved a fusion of architecture, light, low walls, ramps, columns, irregular atriums, and the viewer.

This area primarily displays French Neoclassical sculptures and hosts regular exhibitions of sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin (sometimes also used for special exhibitions). Visitors can admire Western art masterpieces from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century, including Renaissance religious paintings, pre-18th-century Old Master paintings, and Impressionist works by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and others, offering a comprehensive retrospective of Western art history.

Instead of stairs, the transition from the ground floor to the first floor is achieved via a gentle ramp. Visitors can stroll along the ramp, appreciating the sculptures on display while naturally ascending to the upper level. The ramp not only facilitates a smooth visual transition but also moderates changes in eye level, creating a unique viewing experience.

The second floor features a spiral gallery layout, adhering to Le Corbusier's vision of an "infinite growth museum." The ceiling on this floor is designed with two levels: the lower section stands at 226 cm, aligning with the standard height of Le Corbusier's "Modulor" figure; the higher section reaches 452 cm, exactly twice the lower height. Le Corbusier also incorporated a balcony on this floor overlooking the sculpture exhibition hall on the ground floor, enhancing the spatial hierarchy and immersive experience and making art appreciation a dual artistic encounter of architecture and vision.