Lee Ufan Museum 李禹煥美術館
Iron and stone
Lee Ufan, a Korean artist living and teaching in Japan, is the only artist to have a dedicated museum on Naoshima.
The Lee Ufan Museum is a project by Tadao Ando to pay homage to his artist, architect and philosopher friend on the occasion of the first edition of the Setouchi Triennial.
Read: Naoshima, art in nature
Lee Ufan is famous in Japan and has been since the 1960s and 1970s for his participation in the mono-ha artistic movement advocating raw, conceptual and minimalist art.
Osmosis
A museum conceived under the sign of harmony: between nature and art, raw forms and worked elements, and finally between Tadao Ando and Lee Ufan, who collaborated closely to shape the museum in their image.
Like the Chichu Art Museum, this museum is also half buried. Large concrete walls form a corridor, leading visitors to the entrance to the museum.
Only the esplanade and its sculptures, which mingle verticality and horizontality, and shadow and light, emerge from the ground. From the museum, a paved walk with lawns and pine trees leads to the sea. The place is particularly beautiful at sunset as it offers a beautiful view of the inland sea.
Light and Silence
Having removed their shoes, visitors can discover the three themed rooms, designed to host the works of Lee Ufan. These are linked together, in simplicity and elegance, with some rooms bathed in light and others half-dipped in the darkness but where there still reigns a profound silence, inviting meditation.
The Lee Ufan Museum is definitely one of the most beautiful museums on Naoshima, where you don't come to simply see art, but to feel it, and live it.
