IVAM’s collection to date

The aim of ‘The IVAM collection to date’ is to offer a contextualised journey through the history of modern and contemporary Valencian, Spanish and international art, proposing a historiographical reading of the key movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Beyond a linear narrative, the exhibition seeks to foster multiple narratives, generate intersections and open spaces for dialogue between History and histories through the particularities of the IVAM collection, whose originality lies in rethinking the notion of canon and hegemonic history by creating a narrative in which ‘major figures’ intertwine with lesser-known names.

The proposal responds to a hybrid model: a central narrative thread interwoven with alternative readings. Alongside the sequential route, visitors may choose between four itineraries highlighting transversal dimensions such as the importance of colour, ecologies, feminisms and conflicts.

In keeping with IVAM’s commitment to sustainability, the exhibition design has been developed by Smart & Green Design, a studio specialising in eco-design and environmental auditing for exhibitions and museums.

The chronology of IVAM’s formation has led to a collection shaped by European historiography, resulting in imbalances in terms of gender, race, inclusion and equity. Moreover, despite the coherence of acquisitions over time – even across different tenures, periods and working methods – the collection also contains gaps. Yet such absences affirm its condition as a living archive: an ecosystem of memories and lives in which the work of critics intersects with that of gallery owners, administrative staff, collectors, advisers, artists, curators, moments and places. Every contemporary art collection is, by definition, infinite: an open, unfinished and multifaceted narrative.

The exhibition features works by more than 260 artists, including Ad Reinhardt, André Masson, Bouchra Khalili, Cindy Sherman, Claes Oldenburg, Dani Karavan, Doro Balaguer, Francis Picabia, Gillian Wearing, Gino Giuseppe Soggetti, Gustav Klucis, Jacques Lipchitz, László Moholy, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Laurie Simmons, Marcel Duchamp, Martha Rosler, Robert Frank, Walker Evans, or María Blanchard among others.