Takashi Murakami in London: A Dialogue Across Centuries
This exhibition invites viewers to reconsider the narratives they take for granted, to see how the past and present intertwine in ways both familiar and unexpected.
At first glance, stepping into Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami at Gagosian’s Grosvenor Hill feels like entering a world of pure spectacle—vivid colours, fantastical creatures, and shimmering gold leaf flood the senses. But as you move closer, the exhibition reveals itself as something much deeper: a layered exploration of Japan’s artistic heritage, its transitions through history, and the very nature of cultural memory.
Takashi Murakami, long celebrated for his Superflat philosophy, approaches this new body of work with an almost reverent curiosity. Known for flattening the divide between high art and commercial aesthetics, Murakami has taken on a different kind of challenge here—bridging the cultural and temporal chasm between Japan’s Edo period and its contemporary global identity.
At the heart of the exhibition is his reimagining of Iwasa Matabei’s Rakuchū-Rakugai-zu Byōbu (Scenes in and around Kyoto). Originally a 17th-century masterpiece, the work captures Kyoto’s urban life with intricate detail. Murakami’s version, commissioned for Kyoto’s Kyocera Museum, transforms the delicate, almost serene original into something unapologetically bold. Gold-leaf clouds are populated with skulls—a reflection on mortality inspired by Kyoto’s Toribeno burial ground—while his ubiquitous smiling flowers and the cartoonish Mr DOB pull the viewer into a surreal blend of whimsy and existential reflection.
Murakami has often described his art as a means of confronting impermanence, and this theme runs throughout the exhibition. The Four Symbols series, inspired by Kyoto’s mythical guardians, pairs these celestial figures with real landmarks in the city. Each painting layers hand-painted elements with images generated using artificial intelligence—a collaboration of human craftsmanship and technology that mirrors the inventive spirit of the Rinpa school, whose artists reinterpreted and adapted motifs across centuries. The result is a body of work that feels simultaneously ancient and futuristic, deeply rooted yet untethered by time.
One particularly striking diptych revisits the gods of wind and thunder, rendered in a riot of colour and texture that merges traditional Buddhist iconography with the graphic energy of anime. These works don’t merely honour Japan’s artistic lineage; they interrogate it, pulling it into the present with questions about how culture evolves, what is lost, and what is gained.
Yet for all its historical references, Murakami’s work never veers into nostalgia. His reinterpretations feel alive, charged with the energy of someone deeply engaged with the material. This vitality extends to his concurrent display at Gagosian’s Burlington Arcade, where six new flower paintings burst with colour and irreverence. These cheerful blooms, while playful, also echo Murakami’s reflections on consumerism and the commodification of joy.
The exhibition culminates in an interplay of nature, art, and fashion. Works inspired by Daigoji Temple’s cherry blossoms and Kōrin’s chrysanthemums reveal Murakami’s fascination with cycles of renewal. These motifs, once integral to kimono design, blur the lines between functional art and fine art—a reminder that Japan’s visual culture has always been as much about living as it is about preserving.
What makes Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami so compelling is its refusal to settle for easy answers. It doesn’t seek to “modernise” the past or romanticise it. Instead, it engages in a conversation—a messy, beautiful, and profoundly human dialogue about what it means to inherit a culture and carry it forward.
By the time you leave, you might find yourself thinking not only about Kyoto’s guardians or Murakami’s smiling flowers but about the larger currents of change and continuity that shape all art—and all of us.
Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami is on view at Gagosian Grosvenor Hill until 8 March 2025.
Address: 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1K 3QD, UK.
Elena Leo is the Arts & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.