Yoshitoshi shows how Van Gogh looked at Japan
The exhibition brings the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon to Amsterdam. Pinholes in Van Gogh’s Japanese prints suggest that he did not only collect them: he also hung them up to study.
A few small holes in the corners tell us something about looking. From 1885, Vincent van Gogh collected hundreds of Japanese prints; five were by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. The Van Gogh Museum says the pinholes show that he hung the sheets up and studied them.
Yoshitoshi’s series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon is now on view at the Van Gogh Museum for the first time. The exhibition opened on 1 October and runs through 4 January 2027. Its hundred prints depict figures and events from Japanese and Chinese history, mythology and folklore, with the moon linking the series.
The museum describes Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) as a major innovator in Japanese printmaking. He worked within traditional woodblock methods while also adopting Western influences such as perspective and realism. The prints make that combination visible through line, colour and areas left unprinted.
The series came from the estate of collector Elise Wessels, founder of the Nihon no hanga museum. Under a provision of Dutch inheritance law, 141 Japanese prints from her collection went to the Dutch State and were placed with the Van Gogh Museum.
The museum calls the moon series exceptionally complete and well preserved.
The small exhibition runs through 4 January 2027. “Mindful art viewing” sessions are also scheduled for 30 October. The show is part of the Van Gogh Museum.