An article pickup apparatus configured so as to measure surface positions of articles by a three-dimensional measurement instrument to acquire position information of three-dimensional points, calculate a density distribution indicating a degree of a distribution of the three-dimensional points in a three-dimensional space based on the measured position information, calculate a density local maximum position where a density is locally maximized based on the density distribution, calculate a hand position posture which is a position and a posture of the hand capable of picking up an article at the density local maximum position based on the density local maximum position calculated, and control the robot so as to move the hand to the hand position posture to pick up the article.