The 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. It is a place from which to observe, question and understand the world through contemporary art and culture.
The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) opened its doors in 1989, becoming the first museum of modern and contemporary art established in Spain under the country’s autonomous communities system. Its creation addressed the need to recover and disseminate art from the late 19th and 20th centuries, a period that had received limited attention in the country for decades. The project began to take shape in 1984 and was formalised through the founding law approved by the Generalitat Valenciana in 1986.
The IVAM Collection began to materialize 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 upon these two pillars, the Collection has developed a narrative that—spanning over 14,000 works—traces the major movements in the history of modern and contemporary art.
Today, the IVAM continues this mission through a programme that seeks to create new narratives, take a stance on the world and engage society in forging new ways of viewing and understanding our present.
Its eight exhibition galleries house the Collection and temporary exhibitions that foster a dialogue between modern and contemporary art, historical perspectives and more experimental. It is a space where
Valencian, national and international artists coexist, bringing together established figures and emerging voices, 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 views culture as a tool for discovering, sharing and transforming.
We conceive of the IVAM as an fluid space, capable of constantly transforming and self-questioning; as a social body connected to its surroundings and attentive to the needs and challenges of its communities. It is a place for raising issues, questioning and engaging, but also for imagining possible futures and contributing to the development of a critical citizenry.
IVAM is ASI: Accessible, Sustainable and Inclusive.