Upon completion of the annex in 1968, the former chairman of the Yamagata Bank, Kichiro Hasegawa, donated 163 works of art collected by several generations of the Hasegawa family. These works include important cultural property such as "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" by Yosa Buson (1716-1783).

In 1995, the current head of the Hasegawa family, Mr. Kichishige Hasegawa, donated 48 pieces, including seven tangible cultural assets designated by the prefecture.

In 1994, Mr. Kenji Hasegawa donated 81 art pieces, following the wishes of his late father, Mr. Kichinai Hasegawa, who was the chairman of Shokusan Bank.

This collection, which consists of donations from two Hasegawa families, systematically traces the Kano School, literati painting, and the Maruyama- Shijo School during the Edo Period.

This room exhibits the works of Taketaro Shinkai (1868-1927) and his nephew Takezo Shinkai (1897-1968). Born in Yamagata Prefecture, Taketaro was highly evaluated by Bunten (art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education) and Teiten (sponsored by Imperial Art Academy) as one of the forerunners of modern sculpture; he later became a member of "Teishitsu-gigeiin" and "Teik oku-bijyutsu-in".

Although not a mainstream artist, Takezo continued activities as a member of "Nihon-bijyut su-in" and "Kokuga-kai".

When the new building opened in 1984, the museum put forward a policy to systematically collect 20th century French paintings and to enhance its permanent collection.

The Yamagata Museum of Art has purchased pieces by Georges Rouault (1871-19 58), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), and Marc Chagall (1887-1985). The museum also requested the late Pierre Mazar (Le Figero, art desk reporter) to select 50 modern artists active in the painting circles in Paris, and one piece by each artist was collected.

French artists popular in Japan today were also included, such as Maurice Brianchon (1899-1979), Paul Aizpiri (1919- ), Bernard Buffet (1928-1999 ), Jean P. Cassigneul (1935- ), and Antoni Clavé(1913- ), providing an overview of representational paintings of the art world in Paris after World War II. In order to acknowledge the achievements of the former museum director, who passed away in 1991, the Yamagata Museum of Art now exhibits 60 French paintings and four sculptures by Aristide Maillol and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle under the name of the Hattori Collection.

In 1991 Yoshino Gypsum Co., Ltd., Tokyo (main office, Marunouchi, Tokyo), de posited its collection of French modern paintings, mainly Impressionist pain tings. Additional depositions have continued, and as of April 2003 the collection consists of 81 pieces, including Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), Ca mille Pissarro (1830-1903), Edouard Manet (1832-1883), Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Claude Monet (1840- 1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Maurice de Vlaminck(1876-1958), Picasso, Georges Braque (1882-1963), Chagall of the Ecole de Paris, and Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944).

Ecole de Barbison, Impressionism, Cubism, abstract paintings, and art pieces by artists from the Ecole de Paris can also be viewed.