Petach Tikva Museum of Art is a museum of contemporary art, featuring works by Israeli
and international artists in diverse media: painting, sculpture, photography, video,
film, architecture, installation, and performance.
The museum strives to foster young artists while offering a platform for seasoned
artists who have not received museum exposure. The exhibitions staged at the Museum
address a wide spectrum of themes from the Israeli cultural sphere, alongside universal
issues pertaining to global society in the contemporary era, while promoting innovative
approaches to the museum space and the breaching of traditional conventions and
boundaries between different artistic mediums and their modes of presentation. These
approaches are at the core of the curatorial line set by the museum's director and
chief curator, Drorit Gur Arie, with the aim of leading, rather than merely reflecting,
occurrences in the Israeli art scene.
The Museum was established in 1964. It is located in the Museum Complex on the outskirts
of Petach Tikva, bordering one of the most beautiful parks in the country, Independence
Park, designed by renowned landscape architect, Lipa Yahalom. In addition to the
Museum, the Complex also includes a range of public buildings: the first Yad Labanim
house in the country (commemorating the city's fallen soldiers), which was established
on the initiative of David Ben Gurion and won the Israel Prize for 1980; the Founders
Museum for the History of Petach Tikva; the Oded Yarkoni Archives for the History
of Petach Tikva; the Institute of Visual Art; and an auditorium offering cultural
and leisure activities, including lectures, artistic performances, film screenings,
etc.
In a desire to further and deepen the cultural discourse in contemporary Israeli
society, Petach Tikva Museum of Art attributes great import to bringing art to the
community and community to art, and initiating a fruitful dialogue. Alongside changing
exhibitions, the Museum serves as a platform for extensive cultural activity, research,
and critical discussion of key issues in Israeli society. These are explored as
part of artist meetings, symposiums, lectures, and interdisciplinary conferences
featuring local and international scholars, artists, curators, and researchers.
The Museum boasts a collection of art works, illustrating the development of Israeli
art from the 1920s to the present. The collection consists of several rare collections,
forming an invaluable asset also to exhibitions in other museums in Israel and overseas.
Works from the collection are presented in changing exhibitions staged at our "Collection
Gallery."
The Museum's Education Department, whose team includes artists and educators, offers
a wide range of activities. It forms a vital pedagogic chain in fostering new generations
of art lovers and in developing the relationship between culture and community.