Explore the Kiyoharu Art Colony from Home

On the site of a former school in the Nagasaka area of Hokuto, Japan, is Kiyoharu Art Colony (清春芸術村), founded in 1983. This small village of studios and exhibition spaces provides a space peaceful seclusion and collective creativity for artists working in a range of media.

The colony was the dream of the art dealer Chozo Yoshii, who built the Shirakaba Art Museum and cultivated a group of intellectuals and art lovers known as the Shirakaba-ha. He was joined in his efforts by Yoshio Taniguchi, Tadao Ando, and Ryuzaburo Umehara, amongst others.

The striking building at the heart of the colony is La Ruche. This circular structure is a 1980s copy of a similar 1900s building that stands in Paris and became famous as a combined boarding house & studio for destitute, bohemian artists of the early 20th Century.

La Ruche takes its name from the French word for a beehive. It's easy to see why; the tall, circular structure is packed with small bedroom-studio cells for the artists, who busy themselves with their various practices.

The rooms are simple and sparse, but offer more than enough space for contemplation and creation.

A short walk away is this museum, designed by the minimalist modernist and concrete enthusiast, Tadao Andao. Its simple, grey, blocky structure conceals a space of natural light and human warmth, and recalls his most famous building, the Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Osaka.

The exhibition space contains no artificial lighting. Because of this, the gallery and the works it contains change their appearance depending on the time of day, and the season of the year.

Next door is the Rouault Chapel, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and dedicated to the French artist Georges Rouault, a painter, draughtsman and print artist associated with Fauvism and Expressionism, whose stained glass illuminates the small sanctuary.

Inside the chapel are more works by Rouault, including a crucifixion scene, hung behind the lectern. These works, and the stained glass, were donated by the Rouault Foundation to show their gratitude for the work the Shirakaba-ha artists did to promote European art in Japan.

Towards the edge of the colony is this tree-house tea room. Known as Tetsu, it was built in 2006 by the architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori. The Tetsu Tea room towers 4 metres above the ground, perched on top of a century-old Japanese cypress tree.

Unfortunately, visitors aren't usually allowed inside, but we have special permission. Inside this fairytale tree house is a real Japanese tea room. Sitting up here, you can look over the grounds and watch the falling blossoms of the cherry trees while taking in a cup of matcha.

The Kiyohara Shirakaba Museum was the first building to be constructed, and houses the personal collection of Chozo Yoshii and the works of the Shirakaba-ha. Inside, you'll find French drawings and etchings alongside Buddhist artworks and contemporary sculpture.

Chouzou Yoshii's love of Eastern and Western art helped build bridges in the decades following the Second World War. He was instrumental in bringing artists such as Maurice Utrillo, Marc Chagall, and Antoni Clave to Japan, and Ryūzaburō Umehara and Kaii Higashiyama to Europe.

Thanks for joining this tour of the Kiyoharu Art Colony. Why not take a walk around the grounds and see the Washin guesthouse and rock garden, as well as the bright yellow spiral staircase with a very unusual history (here's a hint, a century ago it stood in France).