Once in Hakone, you want to enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery and improve your health in nature. But don't rush to famous Mount Fuji or the Miyanoshita hot springs. Before you take care of your body, restore your soul at the amazing Pola Museum of Art.

The gallery, aimed at contributing to the health and prosperity of society through beauty, opened its doors to visitors in 2002. But its history began much earlier, way back in 1929, when the Pola cosmetics company was founded in Japan. «Science. Art. Love» – the concept of the new manufacturer, which influenced all his further work.

In the seventies of the last century, Pola opened a research institute of beauty and culture, and then – the foundation for the promotion of traditional Japanese culture. Another step towards the creation of its own museum was the establishment of a fine art foundation.

Throughout Pola's existence, its employees have not only produced unique cosmetics but have also carefully studied and promoted Japanese and global artistic culture. This activity culminated in the creation of the Pola Museum of Art.

The gallery's exhibits were based on a private collection owned by the deceased owner of Pola, Suzuki Tsuneshi. He managed to collect about 9,500 works of art, which included about 400 paintings by prominent European artists. Among the works represented in the museum, the paintings of the French Impressionists Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the founder of Cubism Pablo Picasso, the Japanese painter Leonard Fujita, closely associated with the Paris School, and Yasushi Sugiyama, who painted watercolors in the Nihonga style, stand out.

The building of the museum corresponds to its purpose and fully deserves the title of a separate work of architectural art. It literally blends into the landscape of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, as most of it is located underground. In this way, the entire gallery building complements the natural beauty of Hakone in an amazing way, which in turn enhances the unparalleled works of art displayed in the museum.

In 2013, the Pola Museum of Art, located in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, got its own nature trail. It stretches 670 meters deep into the scenic reserve, allowing the gallery to merge even more with its surroundings. During a walk along the trail, visitors of the museum have time to relax and recuperate alone with nature and art. Guests enjoy the fresh air and the singing of wild birds and admire the many sculptures along the nature trail. Several dozen different monumental works and installations can be counted during the walk.