Chichu Art Museum

Built almost entirely underground on Naoshima island, with architect Tadao Ando designing the concrete spaces so that natural light does all the work of illumination. The permanent collection holds only three artists, each filling rooms built specifically around them. Claude Monet's large Water Lilies hang in a bright white room that changes with the time of day. James Turrell's Open Sky frames the sky through a ceiling aperture that shifts color from morning to dusk. Walter De Maria's polished granite sphere sits at the center of a vast chamber lined with golden stairs. The Chichu Garden outside features 150 plant species that appeared in Monet's own paintings.