Chichu Art Museum

Most of the building is underground, cut into a hill on Naoshima so it does not break the coastline, yet every room is lit by daylight from above. Tadao Ando designed it, it opened in 2004, and it holds just three artists, permanently. In Claude Monet's room, five late Water Lilies paintings are seen only by natural light, so they look different on a grey morning and a bright afternoon. Walter De Maria's Time/Timeless/No Time sets a sphere 2.2 meters across among 27 gilded wooden sculptures, again lit only from the ceiling. James Turrell's Open Sky is a room with a square opening to the sky; a separate 45-minute sunset program lets a small group sit with it after hours. The catch is the ticketing. Entry is by timed slot bought online, and once the slots sell out there are no same-day window sales, so book before you board the ferry. Online tickets are 2,500 yen on weekdays and 2,700 yen at weekends and on holidays, 300 yen more at the window, and visitors 15 and under are free. No photos past reception, and it is closed on Mondays. The cafe inside is open only to ticket holders. The rest of the island, from Benesse House to the Art House Project, is covered in the Naoshima entry.