The museum was founded by the owners of Nippon Menard Cosmetic Co. and opened in 1987.

Art works in the permanent collection include "Portrait of Jeanne Martin in hat adorned with rose" by Édouard Manet (1881), and "Man in a Field or Evening, the End of the Day" (1889) by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.

Paintings in traditional Japanese style are by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Ogata Kōrin, Katsushika Oi, Yokoyama Taikan, Uemura Shōen, Kobayashi Kokei, Yasuda Yukihiko, Maeda Seison, Murakami Kagaku, Okumura Togyū, Fukuda Heihachirō, Hayami Gyoshū, Higashiyama Kaii, Takayama Tatsuo, Kayama Matazō and Hirayama Ikuo.

Among the Western influenced artists found in the collection are Fujishima Takeji, Okada Saburōsuke, Yasui Sōtarō, Umehara Ryūzaburō, Kuniyoshi Yasuo, Kishida Ryūsei, Yamaguchi Takeo, Munakata Shikō, Nakamura Tsune, Kanji Maeta, Saeki Yūzō and Koide Narashige.

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