Museums

Louvre Exhibition to Be Held at Tokyo Museum in 2026, Da Vinci’s ‘La Belle Ferronniere’ to Be Seen in Japan for 1st Time

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Laurence des Cars, the president-director of the Louvre, left, shakes hands with Yoshikuni Sugiyama, the chairman of Nippon Television Network Corp., in front of “Portrait de femme” by Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre in Paris on Tuesday.

By Hiromi Uechi / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

15:45 JST, September 4, 2025

PARIS — Nippon Television Network Corp. and the Louvre in Paris have agreed to hold an exhibition at the National Art Center, Tokyo, in the capital’s Roppongi district from September to December next year.

Yoshikuni Sugiyama, the chairman of Nippon Television Network, and Laurence des Cars, the president-director of the Louvre Museum, signed the agreement at the French museum on Tuesday.

The theme of the exhibition is “renaissance,” and it will feature about 50 selected paintings and other works of craft from the Louvre.

The biggest attraction will be “Portrait de femme” (portrait of a woman) by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting, also widely known as “La Belle Ferronniere,” will be on display in Japan for the first time. Des Cars called the painting one of the most beautiful portraits by Da Vinci and said it was more famous than the Mona Lisa in the 19th century.

She added that she is proud to share the painting with the people of Japan.