Gunma Prefectural Museum of Art, Tatebayashi opened in October 2001 as the second prefectural art museum in Gunma Prefecture. It is located in Tatebayashi, a city in the eastern part of the prefecture, some distance from Takasaki, where the Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art was established in 1974. Gunma Prefectural Museum of Art, Tatebayashi works together closely with the Gunma Prefectural Museum of Modern Art and other prefectural institutions, collecting, preserving, studying, and exhibiting works of art that represent the greatest achievements of the human spirit. The purpose of the museum is to promote creativity and greater sensitivity to art among the people of the prefecture, contributing to the development of culture appropriate to a new age. The museum follows a basic policy of collecting works of art that facilitate understanding of the richly creative development of modern and contemporary art. Its acquisitions programme focuses on the theme of 'human beings and nature', works of art that express the varied range of relationships between human beings and nature, including harmony, symbiosis, and conflict.