IVAM is much more than a museum. Since its creation, it has been conceived as a permanent agora: an open, porous and relational space, connected to the community and committed to the present. A place from which to look at, question and understand the world through contemporary art and culture.
In 1989, the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) opened its doors as the first museum of modern and contemporary art established in Spain within the framework of the country’s autonomous communities. Its creation responded to the need to recover and disseminate the art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, a period that had received limited attention in Spain for decades. The project began to take shape in 1984 and was formalised with the founding law approved by the Generalitat Valenciana in 1986.
The IVAM Collection began to take shape in 1984 and reached one of its foundational milestones in 1985 with the acquisition and donation of a substantial group of works by Julio González. Alongside him, Ignacio Pinazo became another cornerstone of the museum’s holdings. Building on these two pillars, the Collection has developed a narrative that, through more than 14,000 works, traces the major movements in the history of modern and contemporary art.
Today, IVAM continues this mission through a programme that seeks to create new narratives, take a position in relation to the world and engage society in order to develop new ways of looking at and understanding our present.
Its eight exhibition galleries host the Collection and temporary exhibitions that bring modern and contemporary art, historical perspectives and more experimental approaches into dialogue. It is a space where Valencian, national and international artists, established names and emerging voices come together, creating connections between different periods, territories and ways of thinking.
In addition, its public programmes connect the visual arts with cinema, music, design and literature through talks, concerts, workshops, visits and encounters. A transversal and participatory programme that understands culture as a tool for discovering, sharing and transforming.
We conceive of IVAM as an elastic territory, capable of constantly transforming and questioning itself; as a social body connected to its surroundings and attentive to the needs and challenges of its communities. A place for problematising, questioning and engaging, but also for imagining possible futures and contributing to the development of a critical citizenry.
IVAM is LIKE THIS: Accessible, Sustainable and Inclusive.