Wender·Vista
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileJapan
in Ueno Park, on the north side of central Tokyo

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier

— — a square hall built around the way light falls.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The Japanese component of the seven-country Le Corbusier serial site sits in Ueno Park, north of central Tokyo. The National Museum of Western Art opened in 1959. A square concrete block raised on pilotis, with a triangular skylight over the central hall and a ramp that spirals up through the galleries. The Matsukata Collection lives inside.

from the studio
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
— bring it home

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The National Museum of Western Art stands in Ueno Park, in Taitō ward on the north side of central Tokyo. It opened in June 1959 as the home of the Matsukata Collection – French paintings and Rodin sculptures returned to Japan after the war. Le Corbusier designed the main building with three of his former pupils: Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura, and Takamasa Yoshizaka. In July 2016 it was inscribed as the Japanese component of the seventeen-building, seven-country UNESCO serial property dedicated to Le Corbusier's contribution to the Modern Movement.

— the light

The plan is one of Le Corbusier's Museums of Unlimited Growth – a square concrete block raised on pilotis, organised so that the building could in principle spiral outward over time. Visitors enter beneath the volume, climb a ramp into the central hall, then move outward through the surrounding galleries. The central hall is top-lit by a triangular skylight; the gallery rooms read in cool indirect light from clerestory slots. Rodin's Gates of Hell and The Thinker stand in the forecourt.

— the visit

The museum stands a short walk from Ueno Station, on the same Ueno Park grounds as Tokyo National Museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Standard adult admission to the permanent collection is around 500 yen; special exhibitions are ticketed separately. The museum closes Mondays (or the following weekday when Monday is a public holiday) and stays open later on Fridays and Saturdays. The Matsukata Collection forms the spine of the permanent display, with Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, and a deep gathering of Rodin bronzes.

— where
Japan · Taitō, Tokyo
— within
Ueno Park
— position
35.7156° N · 139.7757° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
0.4 km N
Tokyo National Museum
national museum
0.6 km NW
Ueno Zoo
zoological garden
0.3 km N
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
art museum
N
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier
Tokyo National Museum
Ueno Zoo
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

The National Museum of Western Art (NMWA) is Japan's principal national museum for Western art, built around the Matsukata Collection of French paintings and Rodin sculptures. It opened in Ueno Park in 1959.

The main building is one of seventeen Le Corbusier works inscribed in 2016 as a single serial property across seven countries. It is the only Le Corbusier building in Japan and the only one in East Asia.

Le Corbusier designed the main building with three of his former pupils – Kunio Maekawa, Junzo Sakakura, and Takamasa Yoshizaka – who supervised construction in Tokyo while he worked from Paris.

A spatial concept Le Corbusier developed in the 1930s: a square plan raised on pilotis, organised around a central hall and a ramp, designed to spiral outward over time as the collection grew.

In Ueno Park, in Taitō ward on the north side of central Tokyo. It is a short walk from Ueno Station, alongside Tokyo National Museum and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

The personal collection of Kōjirō Matsukata, a Kobe shipping executive who bought French art in Paris in the 1910s and 1920s. France returned most of the collection to Japan in 1959, which prompted the museum's creation.

— about the piece in your home

The tile reads as a quiet study of a building loved by architects and Tokyo residents alike. A Medium with a studio note carries well for anyone who has walked beneath the pilotis in Ueno.

The piece sits well with mid-century modern, Japandi, and warm-minimalist rooms. The cool greys and blues of the concrete hold against teak, oak, and pale plaster walls.

Yes. The composition – geometric concrete mass, indirect light, restrained palette – reads cleanly inside the current Japandi vocabulary of muted neutrals, natural wood, and one architectural focal point.

Above a standard sofa, a Large or a four-tile Mural holds the scale. Above a console, a single Medium centred above the surface reads as a quiet anchor.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and made for the steam and splash of vertical wet installations. The Glossy finish stays in dry rooms.

A soft microfibre cloth and warm water. No chemical cleaner, no abrasive pad. The colour lives in the surface, so it will not wear off with normal cleaning.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is created in-house by Reid Wender, the curator of the atlas. There is no licensing and no second print run from outside the studio.

— if this one stayed with you

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