This is Kurashiki's premier museum, housing the predominantly Western art collection amassed by local textile magnate Ōhara Magosaburō (1880–1943), with the help of artist Kojima Torajirō (1881–1929). The varied assemblage of paintings, prints and sculpture features works by Picasso, Cézanne, El Greco and Matisse, and one of Monet's water-lilies paintings (said to have been bought from the man himself, when Torajirō visited his home in 1920).
While no rival to the major galleries of Europe, it's an interesting collection and one of the town's biggest attractions for Japanese tourists. The valid-all-day ticket also gets you into the museum's Craft & Asiatic Art Gallery, the contemporary Japanese collection housed in an annexe behind the main building.
