Tel Aviv Museum of Art

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, located in Central Tel Aviv, right next to the Israeli Opera, is widely considered to be Israel’s top art museum, and one of the best museums in Israel overall, as it got international recognition as one of the top 100 museums in the world. Here is everything you should know about your visit to this popular and charming museum.

The Story of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is Israel’s leading museum of modern and contemporary art and houses one of the largest collections of Israeli art in the world. Since it was founded in 1932, the museum has been the central cultural hub of Tel Aviv and offers a lively mix of permanent displays and changing exhibitions in a variety of fields, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, video, architecture, and design. Most of the collection has been donated to the museum by artists and patrons.

Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s main exhibitions

Modern art collection

The Tel Aviv Museum’s modern art collection primarily consists of paintings and sculptures spanning from the mid-19th century to the late 1980s. It showcases the dynamic and diverse artistic movements that emerged and influenced modernism in Europe and the United States at the time.

The collection features several notable points of interest, including impressionist and post-impressionist works by renowned artists such as Edouard Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Camus Pissarro, and others. It is also renowned for a big collection of works by Pablo Picasso from different periods of his career.

Additionally, the museum displays a selection of distinctive paintings by Marc Chagall, as well as works by Gustav Klimt, Wassily Kandinsky, Kees van Dongen, and Amadeo Modigliani. Notably, the collection encompasses surrealist art as well, featuring notable artists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Leonora Carrington, and Yves Tangi. All in all, the modern art collection of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is one of the best in the world, and is the main attraction for visitors.

Contemporary art collection

The Tel Aviv Museum of Art also houses an extensive collection of contemporary art, showcasing the works of influential artists who have made their mark on the international art scene over the past three decades.

Spanning various mediums including painting, photography, sculpture, video, and installation, these artworks embody a diverse range of contemporary art trends and explore compelling themes. They delve into issues such as personal identity and the search for meaning in the globalized era, the juxtaposition of the human body against a detached and cynical reality, and the very essence of art itself in a consumerist and capitalist world.

Among these artists are the renowned duo Michael Elmegreen and Inger Dragest, Peter Doig, Peter Halley, Haim Steinbach, Rainer Petting, Anish Kapoor, Ged Quinn, Anselm Kiefer, Gregor Schneider, and many others.

Israeli art collection

The museum proudly houses one of the most extensive and contemporary collections of Israeli art in the world, spanning multiple generations and providing a comprehensive historical overview. Within this collection, there is a rich and thorough representation of selected artists, shedding light on the foundational artistic movements and significant figures within the local art scene.

Notably, the collection showcases remarkable paintings by renowned artists such as Reuven Rubin, Nahum Gutman, Arieh Lubin, Siona Tager, Moshe Castel, Pinhas Litvinovsky, and others who have made a lasting impact in the realm of Israeli art. These artworks serve as prominent highlights within the collection, capturing the essence and diversity of artistic expression in Israel.

Photography collection