Award-winning architect Tadao Ando designed this stunning museum and hotel on the south coast of the island. Among the works here are pieces by Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Jasper Johns and Japanese artists such as Shinro Ohtake. Art installations are dotted across the adjacent shoreline and forest, blending architecture into nature.
Benesse House Museum
Naoshima
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Konpira-san
20.79 MILES
Konpira-san or, more formally, Kotohira-gū, was originally a Buddhist and Shintō temple dedicated to the guardian of mariners. It became exclusively a…
Kōraku-en
15.7 MILES
Kōraku-en draws the crowds with its reputation as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. It has expansive lawns broken up by ponds, teahouses…
Nearby Naoshima attractions
1. Lee Ufan Museum
0.19 MILES
Adding to the Benesse Art Site's suite of museums is yet another design from the irrepressible Tadao Ando. It houses works by the renowned Korean-born…
2. Chichū Art Museum
0.22 MILES
A work of art itself, this museum designed by Tadao Ando consists of a series of cool concrete-walled spaces sitting snugly underground. Lit by natural…
3. Yellow Pumpkin
0.27 MILES
This yellow pumpkin sculpture, by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, has become a symbol of Naoshima. It's perched on the end of a small jetty. Pumpkins are…
4. Minamidera
0.97 MILES
Minamidera, one of the sites within the Art House Project, is a James Turrell experiment with light. Queue up to enter in total darkness…and wait…
5. Haisha
1.01 MILES
The shack-like Haisha by Shinro Ohtake is a highlight of the Art House Project collection of sites, notable for its Statue of Liberty sculpture, which…
6. Art House Project
1.01 MILES
In Honmura, half a dozen traditional buildings have been turned over to contemporary artists to use as the setting for creative installations, often…
7. Go'o Shrine
1.07 MILES
One of the sites in the Art House Project collection, this is Hiroshi Sugimoto's play on the traditional Go'o Shrine, with a glass staircase and a very…
8. Red Pumpkin
1.22 MILES
You can actually walk inside this larger sculpture, a sibling to Naoshima's iconic Yellow Pumpkin by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. The red artwork is…