You're a phooooney!

At least, all the art at the Otsuka Museum of Art is. All 1000 pieces. Even the full-scale Sistine Chapel. And the El Greco altarpiece. And the Mona Lisa. And the entire Rembrandt collection. Every. Last. One of 'em. Fake.

"Wait, what? Why?", I'm sure you're asking, "And you say it's the most expensive art museum in all of Japan? How can that be?!"

You read that right. Admission to the Otsuka Museum of Art is almost $30. Admission the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo? Just under $4. So what continually draws visitors to this museum? The Otsuka can also boast that it is the largest gallery in the country. Visitors have to walk 2.5 miles to see every piece. So how is they have so many pieces? By creating high quality replicas on ceramic boards. The colors don't fade over time, and visitors can get as close as they want to each piece. There are no limits on flash photography. There are no glass cases, no ropes, no partitions of any kind. You can touch them if you feel so inclined. Maybe you can lick them, though I can't really say with any sense of certainty.

So is this freedom to view the most famous works of art ever created as closely as you wish, in one central location, worth the steep ticket price? Apparently so, as one article said that the museum was listed as the number one destination in the country by TripAdvisor users in 2011, and remains in the top 10 in 2014.

I for one, can see the appeal of a museum like this. You can see every iconic piece of art created by artists from around the world, while saving your millions of dollars* that would have to be spent to see every single one of these pieces in person. I imagine it creates a bit of sensory overload, which I would venture to say isn't always a bad thing. Each replica is done to scale, so you get the essence of every painting, even though it's a fake. There needs to be a lot of oversight in a system like this though, to ensure that visitors are getting the feelings  you want them to get. If the replicas are poorly done, the visitor would immediately feel like they were looking at a replica, instead of having that double-take moment like, whoa that looks so real, but I know it's not. Which leads to potential problem two. I think it also needs to be made very clear that what they're viewing are not originals, but quality reproductions. Not everyone who goes there will know where exactly every original is located, and I'd hate for someone to be so blown away by a piece, just to be deflated when they figure out it's fake, ya know?

*rough estimate

Links: http://qz.com/300922/japans-most-expensive-museum-is-full-of-fake-art/
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/10/28/admission-is-30-and-all-the-paintings-are-fakes-so-why-is-the-otsuka-museum-of-art-so-popular/