Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka

The Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka is the city's newest major art institution and already one of its most photographed buildings. Opened on 2 February 2022 after decades of planning, it takes the form of a monumental black cube — a matte, near-windowless volume roughly 46 metres tall designed by architect Kazumasa Yamashita's successor firm and realised by architect Endoh Kenji through a competition-winning scheme. From outside it reads as a single dark mass; inside it opens into a soaring, light-filled atrium threaded with dramatic criss-crossing escalators and staircases that lift visitors up through the void toward the galleries on the upper floors.

The collection is the reason the building exists. For more than forty years the city of Osaka had been quietly assembling a museum-quality art collection with no permanent home to show it in. That collection — now numbering some 6,000 works — finally has a purpose-built stage here. Its strengths are in modern art from the mid-19th century to the present: a rich group of School of Paris paintings including a celebrated portrait by Amedeo Modigliani, works by Utrillo and Foujita, and a deep holding of Japanese modernism, alongside striking collections of graphic design, posters and Osaka-made modern craft. The upper galleries rotate the collection and host ambitious special exhibitions.

The architecture is designed as a public passage, not a sealed vault. The lower atrium levels are free to enter, and visitors are encouraged to ride the escalators up through the interior canyon even without a gallery ticket — a deliberately democratic gesture. Presiding over the scene is 'SHIP'S CAT (Muser),' a giant white-and-red cat sculpture by Yoshitomo Nara perched at the entrance, which has become an instant landmark and meeting point.

A notable part of the story is how long this took. Osaka's modern-art collection was begun in the 1980s and grew for decades while the museum was repeatedly delayed by budget and site questions; when the black cube finally opened in 2022 it completed Nakanoshima's transformation into a genuine museum island, joining the National Museum of Art and the Museum of Oriental Ceramics within a few minutes' walk.

The visiting experience is polished and comfortable. The building is fully accessible with lifts, English panels and guides are provided, and there is a well-regarded restaurant and café plus a strong design-led shop. The interior spaces are engineered for both large crowds and intimate viewing, and the black exterior looks especially dramatic when illuminated at dusk. Allow around ninety minutes, more when a big exhibition is on.

Reaching it is easy: five minutes on foot from Watanabebashi Station on the Keihan Nakanoshima Line, or about ten minutes from Higobashi on the Yotsubashi subway line. Because it sits shoulder to shoulder with Osaka's other art and science museums, it is best enjoyed as part of a half-day exploring Nakanoshima's cultural cluster — and even non-ticket-holders should step inside for the atrium and the cat.