Express Tour

Balcony, 2nd floor

Go up to the second floor of the Museum and take a look from the balcony opposite gallery 204. You will get a panoramic view of the eight monumental sculptures that make The Matter of Time (1994–2005), a permanent installation by Richard Serra. The sculptures posed a huge challenge in terms of both manufacturing and installation, as they were impossibly heavy and yet quite fragile, as they were made of towering weathering steel sheets. It took state-of-the-art technology to make them.

The exhibition focusing on Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (b. 1959) gathers a selection of his paintings, drawings, sculptures, and ceramics, to which we should add My Drawing Room, an installation recreating the artist’s studio.

During his training in Germany, in the 1990s, Nara developed a new style, turning to cartoonish representations of children and animals. Far from being kawaii (Japanese for “cute”), his characters look naughty – at times, even threatening.

Unruly and rebellious, Nara’s works evoke the lyrics and the tunes of the folk and rock songs from the 1950s and 1960s, which accompanied historical events like the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. As a matter of fact, some of his characters carry anti-war or anti-nuclear messages.

Nara’s paintings are the result of several layers of paint in subtly varied pigments, which the artist applies meticulously throughout the painting process.