[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Why French People Visit Naoshima in Groups... Jichu Museum

Art lovers dream of traveling to Naoshima (直島), Japan, to see the Chichu Art Museum. The Japanese pronunciation of 地中 is ‘Chichu.’ Literally, the museum is built underground. While all other museums in the world construct buildings above ground, the museum on Naoshima is located beneath the surface.

The Chichu Art Museum operates by reservation. Admission for adults is 2100 yen.

Aerial view of Naoshima Chichu Art Museum. Photo by Chichu Art Museum

Visitors show their reservation number to receive their tickets. Following the arrows to the Chichu Art Museum, they cross a two-lane asphalt road. On the left side of the asphalt road, a quaint pond comes into view. Yellow iris and other flowers bloom along the pond’s edge. It is a charming little pond. Though small, it exudes a mysterious aura. It feels as if Tinkerbell fairies might flutter right before your eyes.

This pond is called the ‘Garden of Chichu.’ As you admire the garden from various angles, a certain feeling comes over you. It’s like a miniature version of the Giverny pond!

Claude Monet (1840?1926) moved to Giverny, northwest of Paris, in 1883 and created a garden with a pond. Fascinated by Japonism, Monet decorated the garden in a Japanese style. He also placed an arched wooden bridge and planted water lilies in the pond.

Monet Pond created at the entrance of Jichu Museum. Photo by Seongkwan Cho

Why was the ‘Garden of Chichu’ created at the entrance path to the Chichu Art Museum? It serves as a warm-up for appreciating the museum. Around 10 a.m., posing near the lower edge of the pond yields the most natural and beautiful photos. You might even capture a once-in-a-lifetime shot.

After leaving the pond and taking a few steps, you come upon a gentle hillside path. On the left side of the path stands an exposed concrete wall. 地中美術館 (Chichu Art Museum). In front of it, a barrier gate is lowered. When the reservation time arrives, staff come out, lift the barrier, check tickets, and admit visitors in order.

The Chichu Art Museum opened in 2004 as part of the Naoshima Project. Tadao Ando (1941?) designed the museum with the concept of ‘a place to contemplate the relationship between nature and humans.’ Three artists have works on display at the Chichu Art Museum: Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria, in that order. I would add one more person: Tadao Ando himself. The museum is designed with Ando’s signature exposed concrete. The Chichu Art Museum is a concentrated expression of the aesthetics of exposed concrete.

Visitors entering the Jichu Museum through the exposed concrete tunnel. Photo by Seonggwan Cho

Climbing the hillside path, you see a rectangular entrance cut into the exposed concrete wall. Passing through here, a mysterious world of exposed concrete awaits. Visitors walk through a long exposed concrete tunnel. It is a straight gray tunnel about 25 meters long, with no decorations or guide lights. As visitors walk through, they realize they are entering an unknown world they have never experienced before.

The gray is a faded silver. Andy Warhol, the emperor of pop art, called his studio ‘The Factory.’ Warhol lined the interior of The Factory with aluminum foil. He believed silver wiped everything away. Though it is just undecorated concrete, the gray tunnel exudes a mysterious atmosphere. Is this how it feels to enter the world of the deceased? It feels like entering inside an Egyptian pyramid or descending into the Ming Tombs in Beijing.

The courtyard of Jichu Museum surrounded by exposed concrete. Photo by Seongkwan Cho

Running your fingertips along the exposed concrete wall feels like brushing smooth marble. How can such texture be felt from concrete’s physical properties? Visitors cannot help but marvel at Tadao Ando’s genius here. Near the end of the tunnel, the concrete slightly opens a gap. Natural light pours in through it.

At the end of the concrete tunnel, visitors encounter a rectangular concrete garden. Here, they can breathe sunlight freely. Following stairs, they descend to the second basement level. The docent asks visitors to put their smartphones away as photography is not allowed from this point onward.

Monet’s works must be viewed barefoot

The first works encountered are Monet’s. The museum docent instructs visitors to remove their shoes and wear indoor slippers. Visitors silently change into slippers. To experience Monet’s artworks in this way?such care is taken. A moment of reverence arises. It recalls the image of a Buddhist devotee entering a main hall, tightening their collar and removing shoes. Does this mean such etiquette is required to greet Monet’s works?

There are five Monet pieces in total. The space is designed to let in natural light. There is no artificial lighting. The largest painting facing visitors is ‘Water Lily Pond.’ The other paintings are also from the water lily series. They depict the ‘Water Garden’ of Giverny on canvas. Visitors view them from afar, then approach closely, then step back again. The brushstrokes appear disorderly up close, but from a distance, the natural order and microcosm become apparent.

As visitors carefully appreciate the five water lily paintings, they recall the water lily frescoes seen on the top floor of the Orangerie Museum in Paris.

Suddenly, a chain of thoughts crosses the mind. Without Monet’s works, would art lovers worldwide visit Naoshima? It becomes clear why groups of French people visit this small island. Could James Turrell and Walter De Maria alone attract so many visitors?

It is nearly impossible. Monet’s presence makes Turrell and De Maria shine as well. The harmony of 19th-century Impressionism and 21st-century contemporary art. Then how did the Chichu Art Museum acquire and permanently exhibit Monet’s five water lily series paintings?

Nodding upon leaving the Monet gallery, one recalls that Monet was an Impressionist artist who, along with Van Gogh, was passionate about Japonism. How much did he love Japanese art to dress his wife in a kimono and paint her? Perhaps the Orangerie Museum’s decision to donate the five ‘Water Lily Pond’ series paintings to Naoshima’s museum was motivated by a desire to honor Monet’s love for Japan.

James Turrell creates new experiences with light

James Turrell's Open Sky. Photo by Seonggwan Cho

The second artist is James Turrell (1943?) from Los Angeles, USA. An artist who creates new experiential worlds using only light and space. Leaving Monet’s room, visitors follow the docent. They see an empty space with a square opening in the ceiling. This is the ‘Open Sky.’ Some visitors sit and gaze at the square sky. The square sky never remains still for a moment; it changes constantly. The sky is not the indifferent expanse we usually see. The sky itself is art.

Visitors remove their shoes and, guided by the docent, sit on long benches. They gaze directly at a rectangular space above the stairs. An indescribable energy pervades the space. Then, cautiously, they ascend the stairs. Inside the rectangle unfolds another three-dimensional space. Visitors step carefully inside. As they close their ears, their vision opens. Simultaneously, they are drawn into a vortex of immersion. It feels as if they have entered an untouchable spiritual realm. Before the immeasurable infinite world of light, human perception becomes infinitely small. Turrell transcends art appreciation. This is a religious experience.

Walter De Maria captures the four seasons in a sphere

Leaving Turrell’s room, visitors follow the docent down one more floor. Now it is time to face the aesthetics of exposed concrete again. A triangular courtyard enclosed by concrete appears.

Walter De Maria (1935?2013) presents ‘Time / Eternity / Timelessness.’ About 20 steps are visible. On top rests a black sphere 2.2 meters in diameter. It resembles a black orb placed on an altar in an ancient Greek temple. Rectangular light falls onto the black sphere. The light is amorphous. It changes with time and atmospheric flow. Moreover, depending on the position of the stairs and the visitor’s eye level, the reflections on the sphere change. The black sphere reflects nature like a mirror. Visitors marvel at the sphere’s varying reflections depending on their viewpoint. They silently exclaim in awe at the art of light, time, and space created by De Maria. Visitors are not mere spectators but active participants in the artwork. It is a rare experience to observe what you see yourself.

After a one-and-a-half-hour tour, visitors look down at the Seto Inland Sea from the museum caf?. Tadao’s creative design built the museum on the island without damaging the mountain’s form. Monet, Turrell, De Maria, and Tadao?what unites these four is ‘light.’

Water lilies (睡蓮) are aquatic plants whose buds open only during sunny daytime. Light breathes life into nature, and light is what makes art art.

Chosungkwan Writer and Genius Researcher

Operator of ‘Genius Table,’ former editor-in-chief of Weekly Chosun