Prepare to be blown away. The Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art is incredible. It's larger than life (literally), colorful, bold and a must-see if you can get to the Cleveland Museum of Art before it closes on September 7, 2025.
Takashi Murakami at Cleveland Museum of Art
Takashi Murakami was born in Tokyo and was a fan of anime and manga at an early age. He has taken tragic, historic events (the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan and the COVID-19 pandemic) and created bright, colorful works to counter their effects. Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow originated at the Broad in Los Angeles and is presented with expanded scope at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Both the Los Angeles and Cleveland presentations have been curated by the Broad's Ed Schad, curator and publications manager. Curator Ed Chad
As you enter the Ames Family Atrium at the Museum you will see a full-scale re-creation of Yumedono (Hall of Dreams) from the Horyu-ji Temple complex in Nara Prefecture, Japan. 
Takashi Murakami Yumedono at CMA
Shogun co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo
"This is a transformative space," said Jarvis. "Takashi visioned the re-creation of a sacred structure as a portal for the world of the ordinary into the hallucinogenic dream world of his art."
"The Yumedono project is a staggering achievement, easily one of the most ambitious projects in the recent memory of contemporary art," said the exhibition's curator, Ed Schad, curator and publications manager at the Broad.
The original octagonal structure in Nara, Japan, is believed to occupy the same location as the home of Prince Shotoku Taishi, who converted his father, Emperor Yomei, to Buddhism in the late 500s CE by calling for the intercession of Buddha to cure the emperor of an illness. Upon the emperor's recovery, Buddhism was allowed formally into Japan. The Nara Yumedono houses a seventh-century Buddhist statue depicting Prince Shotoku, believed to heal people from suffering. Unique to the Cleveland exhibition, the re-created Yumedono serves as a physical and symbolic anchor for the show."
When you enter you are advised to let your eyes adjust because it is very dark inside. Once adjusted, you will see four huge, new paintings, all created between 2023 and 2025. The 4 paintings are titled: Blue Dragon Kyoto, Vermillion Bird Kyoto, White Tiger Kyoto, and Black Tortoise Kyoto which are said to emphasize Murakami's recent fascination with the Japanese city Kyoto as a vital keeper of many of the country's cultural traditions.
White Tiger Kyoto by Takashi Murakami
Blue Dragon Kyoto The painting are huge - filling the walls. When you exit, you will see this gong which, yes, you can bang.
If this was the entire exhibition it would be well worth a visit but it is literally just the beginning! It sounds trite but each room and each piece offers a new experience. You will see huge works like this spanning many rooms.
Takashi Murakami painting spanning several rooms
Or this, which spans the room but you have to look at each section closely. It's amazing. Takashi Murakami painting spanning an entire room 
Everything is large than life but two of my favorites were smaller piece called Pom and Me and Murakami Arhat. Pom and Me is a self-portrait piece that features a toylike depiction on the left and then an anatomical look on the right. Cool!
Pom and Me by Takashi Murakami
Right next to it is Murakami Arhat which depicts the artist as the Buddhist monk Hoshi which splits open to reveal other versions of himself. Wild!
Murakami Arhat
"Murakami's art mines global history to reimagine the present moment," said Emily Liebert, the CMA's Lauren Rich Fine Curator of Contemporary Art. "Visitors to this exhibition will encounter the Takashi Murakami that they know and love-with his emphasis on popular culture, vibrant design, and collaborations-and they will have an opportunity to connect that work with the historical precedents from which it takes inspiration throughout the Cleveland Museum of Art's encyclopedic permanent collection."
I could go on and on and will post a few more pictures but you really should get to this and see it live if you can. The scale, the colors, the energy - it's really worth a visit. Get more information and reserve tickets.
Here are just a few more of my favorites.
Dan Hanson at Takashi Murakami Exhibition
Trust me. If you can get tickets and visit, do so. It's really something to see/experience. Get more information and reserve tickets.
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