February is the month of love, so why not head to a gallery or museum with a loved one? This month, Tokyo’s art scene boasts a lineup of unique retrospectives, featuring a mix of global and local icons. These are artists who defined generations and movements: the rebellious energy of London in the 90s, Japan’s postwar encounter with spontaneous, lyrical abstraction, the Golden Age of Swedish Art and beyond. Read on to discover seven of our recommended art exhibitions to visit this February.
Wolfgang Tillmans, “The Cook (Kiss)” (2002). Collection of Tate. © Wolfgang Tillmans, Courtesy of Maureen Paley, London; Galerie Buchholz; David Zwirner, New York.
‘YBA & Beyond: British Art in the 90s from the Tate Collection’
One of the most highly-anticipated Tokyo exhibitions of the year, “YBA & Beyond” is a must-see this February. The transition from the late 80s into the 90s was a volatile time for Britain, and the art world reflected that friction; following the Thatcher era, a loose collective of artists — now synonymous with the Young British Artists (YBAs) — emerged to challenge artistic norms through bold, experimental practices and an openness to new materials and processes. Working across diverse media like film, photography and installation, they captured a shifting landscape of popular culture and personal identity.
Presented by Tate, the exhibition features approximately 100 works by a star-studded line-up, including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Lubaina Himid and Steve McQueen. Weaving together music, subculture and fashion from the period, the collection highlights a golden age of UK culture.
Where: The National Art Center, Tokyo (Location)
When: February 11–May 11 (Closed Tuesdays, except May 5)
Price: ¥900–¥2,300
Nils Kreuger, “Nightfall” (1904). Oil on canvas. Photo: Nationalmuseum
‘Masters of Swedish Painting from Nationalmuseum, Stockholm’
This is a rare window into the Golden Age of Swedish Art (1880-1915), a transformative era when a young generation of painters moved beyond French naturalism to forge a distinct national identity. After studying abroad, these artists returned to Sweden to capture the hidden radiance of their homeland, blending realism with a lyrical, emotional depth. Focusing on themes of nature, light and the intimacy of daily life, the collection highlights the cultural roots of Nordic well-being and the unique aesthetic sensibility of Northern Europe.
In collaboration with the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, the exhibition marks the first major survey of its kind in Japan, featuring 80 works by iconic figures like Carl Larsson and August Strindberg. Visitors can expect an immersive journey through the evolution of Swedish painting, from its realistic foundations in the 1880s to the atmospheric, soulful landscapes that have recently garnered international acclaim.
Where: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (Location)
When: January 27–April 12 (Closed Mondays, except February 23)
Price: ¥1,300–¥2,300
Sam Falls, “There is Nothing You Can See That Is Not a Flower, There is Nothing You Can Think That Is Not the Moon (Bashō)”. Glazed ceramic with glass in brass frame, flowers, water. 83.2 x d. 6.8 cm ©︎ Sam Falls
Sam Falls: Solo Exhibition
For his latest show at Tomio Koyama, Sam Falls is bringing the outdoors in — quite literally. Falls has spent years perfecting a “symbiotic” way of making art. Instead of using a camera to take a picture of a forest, he takes the canvas to the forest; he lays it out on the ground, scatters local plants across the surface and sprinkles them with dry pigments. Then, nature takes over: whether it’s a light morning mist in Los Angeles or a heavy rainstorm, the weather acts as the paintbrush, melting the colors around the plants to create “primary source” images that feel like ghosts of the landscape itself.
This exhibition feels especially connected to Japan, featuring a new “Ikebana” series inspired by his time studying traditional flower arrangement in Tokyo. These ceramic pieces feature vase-like elements for installing fresh, local flowers that change with the seasons — which you can catch a whiff of as soon as you enter the gallery space.
Where: Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi (Location)
When: January 24–February 28 (Closed Sundays & Mondays)
Price: Free
‘Robert Doisneau’
Robert Doisneau once famously said, “Paris is a theater where the price of admission is time wasted.” Known as the “fisherman of images,” the beloved French photographer spent his life patiently waiting for the small, unscripted dramas of everyday life to unfold before his lens. This exhibition, created with the full cooperation of his family’s atelier, brings together about 40 carefully selected prints that showcase “Doisneau Theater.” From his iconic, romantic snapshots of Paris to the suburbs where he got his start, Doisneau’s works are united by a gentle sense of humor and a love for humanity.
Though he insisted throughout his life that he was not an artist, Doisneau’s influence on the history of photography is massive; he is widely considered a pioneer of humanist photography, elevating the poetry of everyday life to an art form. The collection features his recurring favorite subjects: playful children, fellow artists who defined the era and the ordinary people of Paris. Even years after his death in 1994, these images feel surprisingly fresh.
Where: Art Cruise Gallery by Baycrew’s (Location)
When: January 30–April 12
Price: Free
15 untitled works in concrete, 1980–84. Permanent collection, The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Photo by Florian Holzherr, courtesy The Chinati Foundation. Donald Judd Art © 2026 Judd Foundation/ARS, NY/JASPAR, Tokyo.
‘Judd: Marfa’
Tracing the radical career of Donald Judd (1928-1994), this show dives into how a painter from Missouri ended up redefining 20th-century art through his massive, three-dimensional “stacks” and boxes. It centers on his big move from the New York art scene to the desert of Marfa, Texas, where he turned old buildings into permanent homes for his work. For Judd, art wasn’t just something you hung on a wall. It was about the entire space it lived in — a philosophy that still shakes up the worlds of architecture and design today.
Mixing his early 1950s paintings with his famous minimalist structures, the exhibition gives a behind-the-scenes look at Judd’s obsession with spatial integrity through personal drawings, videos and plans. Visitors can also witness Judd’s long-standing connection to Japan, through the section documenting his 1978 show at Watari-um, organized by museum founder Shizuko Watari.
Where: Watari-um (Location)
When: February 15–June 7 (Closed Mondays, except February 23 & May 4)
Price: ¥1,300–¥1,500
Title Unknown, 1950s © Estate of Shigeru Onishi, courtesy of MEM.
‘Onishi Shigeru: Photography and Painting’
This is the first major retrospective of Onishi Shigeru (1928-1994), a mathematician who revolutionized Japan’s postwar art scene. As a researcher at Hokkaido University, he began applying his knowledge of topology — the study of shapes and spaces that remain unchanged under continuous deformations — to photography and ink painting, creating works that transcended traditional artistic boundaries. In an era dominated by realism, his photographs were intensely intricate, using multiple exposures, solarization and boiling developers to intuit the esoteric concept of “superinfinity.”
The exhibition also highlights his transition into abstract ink painting during the 1950s, a period when the Informel movement — “unformed” art that favored spontaneous and intuitive abstraction over geometrical abstraction — was sweeping through Japan. Onishi’s ink compositions were discovered by Michel Tapié, the French critic who coined the term, who was struck by their undulating lines and immense power. Following major acquisitions by MoMA and acclaim around the world, the retrospective brings together over 1,000 of Onishi’s photographs and paintings, as well as mathematical manuscripts.
Where: Tokyo Station Gallery (Location)
When: January 31–March 29 (Closed Mondays, except February 23 & March 23, and February 24)
Price: ¥1,100–¥1,300
Installation view of REINHARD PODS, “Licht Jain” (1991). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo.
‘Reinhard Pods: Bilder 1979 – 2024’
For his debut exhibition in Asia, German artist Reinhard Pods brings the grit and high-voltage energy of the 70s and 80s underground scene to Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo’s newly expanded Aoyama space. Pods’ story reads like a rock-and-roll odyssey: after studying in West Berlin, he landed in a New York loft in 1977, spending his nights at legendary clubs like CBGB’s watching the Ramones and Talking Heads. Returning to Berlin, he settled right into the heart of the Kreuzberg punk scene. This “urban expressionism” is baked into his canvases — a raw, cacophonous collision of street art, pop and abstract expressionism.
After working in relative anonymity for decades, Pods’ recent work shows the kind of self-assurance that only comes from years of flying under the radar. His paintings are intentionally rough and unpolished, ditching clean conceptualism for a mix of oil paint, watercolor and even spray paint. This exhibition features 15 works spanning from 1979 to 2025, offering a rare look at an artist who influenced a generation — alongside names like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Martin Kippenberger — but chose to stay out of the spotlight.
Where: Fergus McCaffrey Tokyo (Location)
When: January 24–March 7 (Closed Sundays & Mondays)
Price: Free
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Updated On February 3, 2026
AloJapan.com