# Praemium Imperiale

The Praemium Imperiale (Japanese: 高松宮殿下記念世界文化賞, romanized: Takamatsu-no-miya Denka Kinen Sekai Bunka-shō, lit. 'World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu') is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theatre/film.
The prize consists of a gold medal and 15 million Japanese yen, and was created by the Fujisankei Communications Group, which pays the expenses of around $3 million per year. The prizes are awarded for outstanding contributions to the development, promotion and progress of the arts.

## Information

The Praemium Imperiale is awarded in the memory of Prince Takamatsu (1905–1987), younger brother of Emperor Shōwa who reigned from 1926 through 1989. Prince Takamatsu was famous for his longtime support of the development, promotion and progress of arts in the world.
The laureates are announced each September; the prize presentation ceremony and related events are held in Tokyo, Japan, each November. The prize presentation ceremony is held in the presence of His Imperial Highness Prince Hitachi, President of the Japan Art Association, at the Meiji Kinenkan in Tokyo. Prince Hitachi presents the prizes to the selected laureates. The prize consists of a gold medal and 15 million Japanese yen, and was created by the Fujisankei Communications Group, which pays the expenses of around $3 million per year.
The laureates are annually recommended by international advisers, and decided by an anonymous committee of the Japan Art Association. The advisers include Yasuhiro Nakasone, William H. Luers, Lamberto Dini, François Pinault, Chris Patten, and Klaus-Dieter Lehmann. Honorary advisers included Jacques Chirac, David Rockefeller, David Rockefeller Jr., Helmut Schmidt and Richard von Weizsäcker.

## Table of laureates

| Year | Painting | Sculpture | Architecture | Music | Film/Theater |
| 1989 | Willem de Kooning and David Hockney | Umberto Mastroianni | I. M. Pei | Pierre Boulez | Marcel Carné |
| 1990 | Antoni Tàpies | Arnaldo Pomodoro | James Stirling | Leonard Bernstein | Federico Fellini |
| 1991 | Balthus | Eduardo Chillida | Gae Aulenti | György Ligeti | Ingmar Bergman |
| 1992 | Pierre Soulages | Anthony Caro | Frank Gehry | Alfred Schnittke | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1993 | Jasper Johns | Max Bill | Kenzo Tange | Mstislav Rostropovich | Maurice Béjart |
| 1994 | Zao Wou-ki | Richard Serra | Charles Correa | Henri Dutilleux | John Gielgud |
| 1995 | Roberto Matta | Christo | Renzo Piano | Andrew Lloyd Webber | Nakamura Utaemon VI |
| 1996 | Cy Twombly | César | Tadao Ando | Luciano Berio | Andrzej Wajda |
| 1997 | Gerhard Richter | George Segal | Richard Meier | Ravi Shankar | Peter Brook |
| 1998 | Robert Rauschenberg | Dani Karavan | Álvaro Siza | Sofia Gubaidulina | Richard Attenborough |
| 1999 | Anselm Kiefer | Louise Bourgeois | Fumihiko Maki | Oscar Peterson | Pina Bausch |
| 2000 | Ellsworth Kelly | Niki de Saint Phalle | Richard Rogers | Hans Werner Henze | Stephen Sondheim |
| 2001 | Lee Ufan | Marta Pan | Jean Nouvel | Ornette Coleman | Arthur Miller |
| 2002 | Sigmar Polke | Giuliano Vangi | Norman Foster | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau | Jean-Luc Godard |
| 2003 | Bridget Riley | Mario Merz | Rem Koolhaas | Claudio Abbado | Ken Loach |
| 2004 | Georg Baselitz | Bruce Nauman | Oscar Niemeyer | Krzysztof Penderecki | Abbas Kiarostami |
| 2005 | Robert Ryman | Issey Miyake | Yoshio Taniguchi | Martha Argerich | Merce Cunningham |
| 2006 | Yayoi Kusama | Christian Boltanski | Frei Otto | Steve Reich | Maya Plisetskaya |
| 2007 | Daniel Buren | Tony Cragg | Herzog & de Meuron | Daniel Barenboim | Ellen Stewart |
| 2008 | Richard Hamilton | Ilya and Emilia Kabakov | Peter Zumthor | Zubin Mehta | Sakata Tōjūrō |
| 2009 | Hiroshi Sugimoto | Richard Long | Zaha Hadid | Alfred Brendel | Tom Stoppard |
| 2010 | Enrico Castellani | Rebecca Horn | Toyo Ito | Maurizio Pollini | Sophia Loren |
| 2011 | Bill Viola | Anish Kapoor | Ricardo Legorreta | Seiji Ozawa | Judi Dench |
| 2012 | Cai Guo-Qiang | Cecco Bonanotte | Henning Larsen | Philip Glass | Yoko Morishita |
| 2013 | Michelangelo Pistoletto | Antony Gormley | David Chipperfield | Plácido Domingo | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 2014 | Martial Raysse | Giuseppe Penone | Steven Holl | Arvo Pärt | Athol Fugard |
| 2015 | Tadanori Yokoo | Wolfgang Laib | Dominique Perrault | Mitsuko Uchida | Sylvie Guillem |
| 2016 | Cindy Sherman | Annette Messager | Paulo Mendes da Rocha | Gidon Kremer | Martin Scorsese |
| 2017 | Shirin Neshat | El Anatsui | Rafael Moneo | Youssou N'Dour | Mikhail Baryshnikov |
| 2018 | Pierre Alechinsky | Fujiko Nakaya | Christian de Portzamparc | Riccardo Muti | Catherine Deneuve |
| 2019 | William Kentridge | Mona Hatoum | Tod Williams and Billie Tsien | Anne-Sophie Mutter | Bando Tamasaburo |
| 2020 | No award | No award | No award | No award | No award |
| 2021 | Sebastião Salgado | James Turrell | Glenn Murcutt | Yo-Yo Ma | No recipient |
| 2022 | Giulio Paolini | Ai Weiwei | Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa | Krystian Zimerman | Wim Wenders |
| 2023 | Vija Celmins | Olafur Eliasson | Diébédo Francis Kéré | Wynton Marsalis | Robert Wilson |
| 2024 | Sophie Calle | Doris Salcedo | Shigeru Ban | Maria João Pires | Ang Lee |

## Grants for Young Artists

Since 1997, a series of grants have been made to organizations which nourish young artists.
* 1997 Hanoi Conservatory of Music, Vietnam
* 1998 Polish National Film, Television and Theater School, Poland
* 1999 Instituto Superior de Arte, Cuba
* 2000 Ulster Youth Orchestra, Northern Ireland
* 2001 Résidence du Festival, France
* 2002 European Union Youth Orchestra
* 2003 De Sono Associazione per la Musica, Italy
* 2004 Young Sound Forum of Central Europe
* 2005 Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy, Japan
* 2006 State Foundation of the National Network of Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela (El Sistema)
* 2007 West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
* 2008 Italian Youth Orchestra, Italy
* 2009 Kremerata Baltica, Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia
* 2010 Asian Youth Orchestra
* 2011 Southbank Sinfonia and The Royal Court Young Writers Programme
* 2012 The Sphinx Organization, US
* 2013 The JuniOrchestra of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome
* 2014 The Zinsou Foundation, Benin
* 2015 Yangon Film School, Myanmar/Germany
* 2016 Five Arts Centre, Malaysia
* 2017 Zoukak Theatre Company and Cultural Association, Lebanon
* 2018 Shakespeare Schools Foundation
* 2019 Démos (Philharmonie de Paris)
* 2021 The Advanced Training School of the Central Institute for Restoration, Italy
* 2022 Kronberg Academy Foundation (Germany)
* 2023 Rural Studio, US and Harlem School of the Arts, US