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 since its reopening in 2000.
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. Between 2000-2019 the museum’s director and chief curator was Ms. Drorit Gur Arie. Since 2020 the museum’s director is Ms. Reut Ferster and the chief curator is Dr. Irena Gordon.
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.
