The Nagano Prefectural Art Museum sits in Jōyama Park adjacent to Zenkō-ji and forms one of the major cultural anchors of the city. The museum has a strong collection of works by artists connected to Nagano and the surrounding region, particularly the landscape painters and printmakers who worked in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture during the twentieth century. The permanent collection gives particular emphasis to Higashiyama Kaii, a celebrated landscape painter whose work draws heavily on the forests and light of central Japan; his large-scale forest paintings have a calming, almost meditative quality.
The museum was rebuilt and reopened in 2021 with a new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA. The building uses natural light extensively and integrates well with the park landscape. Temporary exhibitions change regularly and often draw from national collections. The museum is easily combined with a visit to Zenkō-ji, which is a short walk through the park.