A century after his death, French Impressionist painter Claude Monet is on the lips of art lovers across Japan.

This is due to a traveling exhibition titled “Monet: The Late Waterscapes” which ranks as one of the largest of its kind to be held in Japan and is attracting hordes of young and middle-aged visitors.

When the exhibition closed Feb. 11 after a five-month run at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo’s central Ueno district, officials said more than 700,000 people had been to view the artworks.

The paintings will next be open to public viewing at the Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art and the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Aichi Prefecture from March 7 and June 21, respectively.

What is it about Monet’s works that pluck at the heartstrings of Asian viewers?

CULTURAL AFFINITY

A long line of people formed outside the National Museum of Western Art one weekday in late January despite a sign at the end of the queue that read the anticipated waiting time was “100 minutes.”

Once inside the gallery, crowds of spectators swarmed in front of each painting.

With its general online admission ticket priced at 2,300 yen ($14) for adults, the exhibition mostly featured works from Monet’s later years.

Fifty paintings are on loan from the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, some of which have not been displayed in Japan before. Combined with paintings kept in Japan, a total of 64 works are being shown.

“Monet: The Late Waterscapes” features more than 20 works from the renowned “Water Lilies” series, making it a must-see for art lovers.

The buildup to the exhibition was such that a long line of visitors formed immediately after it kicked off in the capital.

Due to the heavy interest, visitors were required to make reservations during specified hours on weekends and national holidays from late December. Starting in February, the rule applied every day.

“Far more people than we initially expected turned out even though we fully realized that events linked to Monet always lure masses of visitors,” said Aoi Yamamasu, a researcher at the National Museum of Western Art who was involved in organizing the exhibition.

Artworks by Monet (1840-1926) have been displayed on numerous occasions in Japan.

One such exhibition, for instance, toured Tokyo, Kyoto Prefecture and elsewhere from 2015. It attracted a staggering 760,000 visitors in less than three months at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

More recently, “Claude Monet: Journey to Series Paintings” that kicked off in October 2023 drew at least 460,000 visitors over the three months the masterpieces were on display at the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo. When the paintings moved to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka for three months, upward of 450,000 people showed up.

Those figures stand out when compared to visitor numbers at other exhibitions featuring renowned artists that were held in the capital last year.

For example, 260,000 people visited the National Art Center, Tokyo to view paintings by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), while a display of works by Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978) at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum attracted 230,000 visitors.

Monet has always been an unshakeable draw for visitors. Plus, his popularity has begun spreading in recent years among young people.

Yamamasu noted that viewers at the “Monet: The Late Waterscapes” were often first-time visitors to the National Museum of Western Art.

“I felt like more young people than usual were showing up this time,” she said.

Offering a reason, Yamamasu suggested that natural scenes and other subjects in Monet’s artworks are easier for modern Japanese to understand. She said visitors may feel a deep familiarity with his pictures, as Monet had a deep appreciation for Japan’s culture and its people’s affinity with nature.

“At first glance, determining what is depicted in his paintings is often challenging owing to their abstract nature,” Yamamasu said. “Surrounded by those large pictures, viewers might find the experience reminiscent of modern art. Young people interested in modern art and design would definitely identify with them (Monet’s works).”

Naoko Saito, a curator at the Ueno Royal Museum, who was responsible for the 2023 Monet exhibit, cited another possible reason for the massive turnouts by young people.

“This was likely because they believed a Monet event could not be disappointing,” Saito said. The exhibition exclusively boasted Monet’s works, with the catchphrase “100 percent Monet” helping to reach out to a broader audience.

Saito surmised that young people these days generally have little time to waste and would pick out a Monet exhibition on the assumption his vibrantly colored creations could never be boring, even to novices.

She noted that many young people who came were clearly on dates or on outings with friends.

“Many young people were apparently captivated by photos posted by a range of visitors on Instagram and other platforms.”

Saito stressed that not only young women apparently in their 20s but also couples were in evidence much of the time despite an initial assumption that visitors would be mainly middle-aged and elderly individuals.