A building with a very stylish exterior. It's right next to the Geijutsu no Mori parking entrance, but surprisingly, quite a few Sapporo residents don't know there's an art museum here. It's a small art museum with hardly any visitors, which also means you can take your time viewing the art. I hadn't heard of Yuki Sekiguchi before coming here, but there were many memorable landscape paintings. Incidentally, he was a painter who continued painting Hokkaido landscapes. There's also a café, and you're likely to have it to yourself, so you can spend some leisurely time immersed in the paintings. I feel it might be nice to have a little more space to display the works.

2023.3 An art museum housing works by nihonga painter Yuki Sekiguchi. It is reportedly run by a private company that had a close relationship with him. Looking into it, I found that it “is operated as a cultural undertaking of Hokuei Kogyo Co., Ltd., a steel-industry company in Sapporo.” Many works are “shihon saishoku,” paintings on paper using mineral pigments and ink, which are said to withstand relatively long-term storage. A video inside the museum also explains how, while studying to become a painter, he was mobilized as a student soldier and experienced the deaths of many schoolmates and comrades, influencing his later approach to his work. Many works feature monochrome winter landscapes of Hokkaido (personally, they bring to mind eastern Hokkaido, around Nemuro) (some also evoke early summer).

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On a holiday afternoon, I used only the café on my way back from Geimori. Had it all to myself. A luxurious space. Reasonable prices. Refined staff. Do take a look at the nihonga exhibition sometime, too. Although there aren't many works on display.

I'm sorry to say I knew nothing about the painter Sekiguchi, but I had some time after the “Akiko Endo Exhibition” at the Geijutsu no Mori Art Museum, so I stopped by. There was nobody inside, so I could view the art quietly, and there were so many wonderful landscape paintings. It seems he established an art museum in Sapporo because he focused on Hokkaido landscapes in the latter half of his life. There were also donations from his family, and since all his paintings are stored at this museum, it seems it would take many years to see them all, even with the displays changing about three times a year. I definitely thought I'd like to visit again.

So many wonderful works… I was deeply moved. I'd like to visit often. The surrounding natural environment is lovely, too. The murmuring of the Makomanai River behind the museum also felt cleansing to the soul.