"N.Y. Manhattan 9 Avril" by Sho Fukumoto, 1994, oil on canvas

Perhaps he is a poet, this painter who can capture the promise of a Venetian morning. Or a philosopher, who can make the New York skyline a mystery in blue.

Whatever else he is, Sho Fukumoto is a fine artist, whose work is the subject of a retrospective at the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art in Tokyo.

Fukumoto has lived in Paris since 1967, and although hegraduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, and has exhibited at the Salon in Paris, he is not yet so well known in Japan. Perhaps winning this year's Grand Prix from the Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art for his superb painting "Lumiere du Matin a Murano, Venice," will bring his work to a larger audience.

His early paintings, with their strong echoes of Cezanne and Matisse, reveal a talented artist at the crossroads, distracted by all the signposts. But, moving from a vibrant still life of 1967 to a cool, abstract landscape of the following year, one can see he has found a way. Of his youthful enthusiasm, he writes, "with a box of paints on my shoulder I walked proudly, as if what I bore on my back was the burden of culture itself."

"Lumiere do Matin a Murano, Venice," 1998, oil on canvas

Although Fukumoto is still treading that pathway, he has not fallen into a rut. Instead, he has traveled deeper into the heart of things, and it is interesting to see the evolution of his art. Gradually, abstraction turns to clarity, color fills with light, and his paint-filled brush becomes as deft as a mosquito. He shifts blocks of light and shadow like a theater director, positioning actors on the stage. His best compositions are deceptively simple, and when they take us by surprise, how fine is the balance. That shadowy fisherman, forever floating on his boat, or those bright sea gulls tumbling over a northern sea. One could happily see these every morning and always find something new.

This journey of discovery has also been a pilgrimage. Here are the rooftops of Honfleur, where Eugene Boudin was born, the path to van Gogh's tomb at Auvers and the quiet waterways of Moret, where poor Sisley, the Impressionist, found solace from the world's indifference. Many followers have walked this way, but, it must be said, few have looked with their own eyes.

There are also some exquisite, unsentimental drawings of a dove, a girl, lamplight in Paris, which were illustrations for a novel by Kunio Tsuji.

The stillness of his recent large landscapes is strangely reminiscent of the still lifes of Giorgio Morandi, the 20th century Italian artist whose work is now being rediscovered for its spiritual purity. But no need for parallels: Fukumoto's paintings are unique. If you have time for just one more exhibition before the end of the year, try this pool of serenity just minutes from the mayhem of Shinjuku Station.