National Center for Modern Art in Roppongi

Kngwarreye, who died in 1996, was a remarkable figure. She is often claimed to have been a creative genius. Which is remarkable given that she only started to paint in her late 70s. She had lived her whole life in Utopia, a tiny outpost in the blistering Western deserts, which in the 1980s improbably blossomed into a vital centre for Aboriginal art. Her abstract, colorful works were much-coveted by collectors, breaking sales records. She was the first Aboriginal artist to sell a painting for over a million US dollars. The money, controversially, was ploughed almost entirely back into her extended family and community, where it was shared. At one point ashe was buying a car a week for her relatives and singlehandedly providing for half the town. She died with little money herself, leading to accusations that she had been exploited both by white art dealers and by her own community, although others argued back that this was to misunderstand the sharing nature of Aboriginal culture, with its emphasis on group ownership of resources.