The Ehime Museum of Art opened in 1998 on the site of Matsuyama Castle, a designated national historic site, as a participatory and creative art museum where visitors can enjoy viewing and creating artwork and learning through these activities.
The collection of Ehime Museum of Art began with its predecessor, the Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art (opened in 1970), and has mainly collected works by local artists. In November 1998, with the relaunching of the museum as the Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art, it acquired works by foreign artists such as Monet and Cézanne, which form the core of the current collection, as well as works by modern Japanese artists such as Yukihiko Yasuda and Tsune Nakamura, and added a large collection of local artists such as Hisui Sugiura, Masamu Yanase, Hitone Noma, Hiroshi Manabe, and Umetaro Azechi, which now stands at approximately 11,000 pieces. These collections are exhibited five to six times a year as special exhibitions to introduce them to the public.
In addition, the museum's special exhibitions feature a wide variety of outstanding works from Japan and abroad, including those related to local artists and artworks that make the most of the collection and introduce diverse cultures and values. The Prefectural Atelier, one of the few such facilities in Japan that allows visitors to create freely at their own pace, provides assistance in the creation of prints, woodwork, dyeing and weaving, photography, clay, and other art forms.
Based on these activities, Ehime Museum of Art aims to become an art museum that is close to the daily lives of its visitors by helping them to "see, create, and learn".