Collection

About the museum collection

The Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum has inherited the collection of its predecessor, the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum (opened in 1965, closed in 2002), mainly composed of Japanese art since the Meiji period and Spanish art. And it has continued to acquire new works since it opened.

Categories of Artworks Acquired for the Collection
1)Artworks associated with Nagasaki or made by artists associated with Nagasaki
2)Spanish art, including the Suma collection.
3)Excellent works of art appropriate to a museum collection

Art Related to Nagasaki

The museum has acquired works produced since the Meiji period that have been made by artists born in Nagasaki or have used Nagasaki as a subject. The collection includes a variety of contemporary art, photography, design, and documentary materials as well as conventional painting and sculpture.

Spanish Art

One of the most important features of the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum is its collection of Spanish art, one of the largest in East Asia. It has been formed around the core of the Suma Collection, formed by a private collector, and is recognized as one of the best collections of Spanish art outside of Spain.

The Suma Collection
Yakichiro SUMA (1892-1970) was the Japanese envoy extraordinary to Spain during the Second World War, serving from 1941 to 1946. While in Madrid, he acquired a collection of Spanish art numbering over 1,760 items. According to Suma’s wishes, 78 items from the collection were bequeathed to Nagasaki prefecture in 1970. Through a combination of gifts and purchases, the number of works from the Suma collection held by the museum has now grown to 500 items.

Highlights from the collection

Here are some representative artworks from the museum’s collection.