Beloved Japanese artist Takashi Murakami just unveiled a new exhibit at Gagosian called JAPONISME → Cognitive Revolution: Learning from Hiroshige.
On view now through July 12th, visitors can check out 121 new and recent canvases by the artist, with many inspired by the work of Utagawa Hiroshige, a legendary Japanese artist from the 1800s who captured life in a city on the precipice of change.
In this new exhibition, Murakami explores how art from different times and places has influenced each other-especially how Japanese art has inspired artists around the world, and how those influences have come full circle back to Japan.
Reimagining many of these scenes from Hiroshige’s masterpiece series 100 Famous Views of Edo and other artists like Hishikawa Morofusa and Kitagawa Utamaro, he’s added his own characters and style to the originals, and sometimes mixing in elements from other classic Japanese artists.
Many of the works too were inspired by Japonisme, a movement in European art and design that sparked by the reopening of Japan to global trade in 1853.
Western artists like Van Gogh and Monet became fascinated by Japanese art and started incorporating its styles, and Murakami’s now exhibited versions of famous European paintings aim to illustrate that Japanese art goes beyond the country’s borders and “brings things full circle.”
In this exhibition I’m engaging in an artistic variety of backcrossing, the process by which one generation
is made by crossing two different varieties, and in subsequent generations, one of the parent varieties is
crossed back with the offspring.
—Takashi Murakami
One highlight in particular is Murakami’s take on James McNeill Whistler’s Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, a painting depicting the Old Battersea Bridge in London at night.
Whistler’s painting was itself inspired by Japanese prints, especially in its use of color and composition, and Murakami’s new version explores how ideas travel across cultures and time, blurring the lines between what’s original and what’s a copy.
Plus, several new paintings in the show reflect on the origins of Louis Vuitton’s iconic motifs, tracing the French luxury house’s famous logo back to the traditional Japanese family crest, or kamon, and its signature Damier (checkerboard) design to the classic Japanese Ichimatsu pattern.
By highlighting these cross-cultural connections, the exhibition continues the conversation around influence, originality, and the enduring impact of Japanese aesthetics on global design.
The exhibit is open at Gagosian in Chelsea through July 12, 2025.
📍 Gagosian West 21st Street (522 W 21st St)