Murakami just pulled back the curtain on everything at The Broad and you need to see this.
You know those happy rainbow flowers? The smiling faces on Kanye albums and Supreme drops? Those were always a lie. Murakami’s been saying it himself those smiles represent the repressed trauma Japanese people carry from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The happy faces were never about joy. They were masks hiding rage, fear, sadness. In Japanese culture you smile through the pain. You don’t show what hurts.
Well now Murakami’s done smiling.
The Broad just dropped a fresh installation with four major Murakami works, and the centerpiece is his newest *Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo: Japonisme Reconsidered Moon Pine, Ueno* (2024-25). He’s channeling Utagawa Hiroshige’s 1856 ukiyo-e woodblock prints, that same traditional Japanese art that inspired Van Gogh and Monet. But this ain’t just homage. This is Murakami adding his own characters, his own anger, his real emotions. The tree, the circular composition it’s rooted in classical Japanese aesthetics but the emotion? That’s right now. That’s all of us post pandemic, post everything.
The faces aren’t hiding anymore. They’re angry. Frustrated. Terrified. Real. No more kawaii facade. This is the darkness that was always there, finally showing itself.
And this is happening at The Broad Eli and Edythe Broad are absolute legends for what they built in DTLA. Free admission to world class contemporary art? That’s revolutionary. Most museums gatekeep behind ticket prices but “The Broad” understood great art should be accessible to everyone. The building alone is bucket list material that honeycomb facade, the way light breathes through it, stunning. Then you walk in and see Basquiat, Warhol, Koons a collection that shows the rest of the art world how it’s done.
They’ve got construction happening right now but they also brought in Richard Therriens oversized objects exhibit that one’s paid admission but honestly worth it. His massive stack of plates, tables you can walk under kids lose their minds over it and the line to get in shows you it’s a hit. I’ve seen his huge table installation before and it never gets old watching people’s faces when they realize the scale.
They had this scavenger hunt for the kids that was genius. Kids running around asking me about every single piece, hunting for clues like little art detectives. That’s how you teach art. That’s how you keep them curious. Get them engaged early, make it fun, and suddenly they’re actually looking at the work instead of just walking past it. Clever as hell.
But right now it’s all about Murakami at his most powerful, most honest. Watching him drop the happy facade and show us the real work that’s what art is for.
And the permanent collection is free. One of the most important living artists showing his truest work in one of the most beautiful museums in America and they’re not charging you anything for the main galleries.
Get to The Broad. Stand in front of that ukiyo-e inspired piece. Look at those real faces not the smiling masks. Feel what Murakami’s expressing.
This is what happens when artists stop performing happiness and start showing truth. This is why we need art that doesn’t hide. This is why spaces like The Broad matter because the best thing a museum can do is show us work that’s real, that’s honest, that makes us feel something deeper than surface level beauty.
—CharlieBLVK
