Istanbul is one of Europe's cultural hotspots right now. The galleries in this area, which are also regarded as a bridge between Western and Eastern culture, show the work of some of the most thrilling artists from Turkey and beyond. During your Istanbul visit, you can visit these modern museums we’ve gathered for you. Sometimes you have to stop visiting the historical places in Istanbul and have a relaxing, chill art break.
Istanbul Modern
Istanbul Modern, Turkey's first museum of modern and contemporary art, opened in 2004. The museum hosts a wide range of interdisciplinary events in order to share Turkey's creative imagination and cultural identity with the local and foreign art worlds. Visit Istanbul to see what this museum can offer!
Istanbul Modern is dedicated to collecting, preserving, displaying, and documenting works of modern and contemporary art, photography, fashion, architecture, digital media, and cinema from around the world. It serves as a medium for the interchange of Istanbul’s culture and historical identity with the modern art community. It assists artists in their productions as well as their attempts to shape international collaborations. When you are sightseeing in Istanbul, explore Istanbul Modern, which offers education services to art enthusiasts of all ages in order to make art more available to the general public.
Arter
Since 2007, Arter has been collecting and caring for contemporary works of art, as well as promoting and supporting the development of new ones through exhibits and other means. Also, it is one of the best places to visit in Istanbul for art. The Arter Collection values and embraces new concepts, discourses, and trends in modern art, including all unorthodox formats. While the Collection is international in nature, it is focused on artistic and cultural development in Istanbul and the surrounding area, with the aim of investigating parallels and differences between the styles, comments, and contents produced in Turkey and elsewhere. The Arter Collection, which dates from the 1960s onwards and includes works in a variety of medium such as painting, sculpture, photography, video and film, installation, sound, light, and performance, brings together different contemporary expressions, roles, and practices. Arter is a great Istanbul area of culture for the art enthusiasts.
Dogancay Museum
The Dogançay Museum, Turkey's first museum of contemporary art, formally opened its doors to the public in 2004. It is situated in Beyoglu Istanbul and offers a general rundown of a small portion of the prolific work of Burhan Dogancay, one of Turkey's leading artists. This mini-retrospective traces Dogancay's creative growth over five decades, from his early figurative paintings to his wall-inspired works and portraits. Adil Dogancay's art in Istanbul is displayed in one of the museum's spaces.
Since 2005, the Dogancay Museum has coordinated and presented a juried elementary school art competition in conjunction with the Istanbul Municipality and corporate sponsors. The Dogancay Museum is committed to continuing their annual competition for kids in Istanbul. The aiim of this competition is to encourage art-based education.
Istanbul Biennal
Since 1987, the Istanbul Biennial has been organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. The biennial's aim is to bring together artists from various cultures and the general public in the field of visual art in Istanbul. Through putting together new developments in contemporary art every two years, the fifteen biennial in Istanbul that were organized to date have encouraged the creation of an international cultural network between local and international art circles, artists, curators, and art critics.
The Istanbul Biennial, like Venice, So Paolo, and Sydney, is regarded as one of the most prestigious biennials. Instead of a national representation model, the Istanbul Biennial chooses an exhibition model that allows for a dialogue between artists and the public through the work of the artists. An international advisory board chooses the curator, who sets a conceptual context through which a diverse community of artists and projects are invited to participate in the exhibition. Art in Istanbul, through these biennal, grows faster than ever.
Apart from these museums, you can check some of the classical museums in Istanbul such as Pera Museum, Sabanci Museum, Istanbul Toy Museum and so on through our website.