Chichu Art Museum

Tadao Ando built this Naoshima museum mostly underground in 2004 so it would not interrupt the Seto Inland Sea landscape, then let daylight pour down into concrete courts open to the sky. The result is a sequence of rooms where light itself does most of the work. Here the building and the art were made for each other, which is why it suits this list so well. Five of Claude Monet's Water Lilies hang in a white room under natural light, James Turrell makes light the artwork, and Walter De Maria's space is a piece in its own right. Entry needs an advance reservation for a set date and time, so book before you take the ferry.