Modern Gallery

The Modern Gallery, known in Croatian as Moderna galerija and renamed the National Museum of Modern Art (Nacionalni muzej moderne umjetnosti) in 2021, is a museum in Zagreb, Croatia. It holds the most important and comprehensive collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings by 19th and 20th century Croatian artists. The collection numbers around 10,000 works of art. Since 1934, the museum has been housed in the historic Vranyczany Palace in the center of Zagreb, overlooking Zrinjevac Park. A secondary exhibition space, the Josip Racic Studio, is located at Margaretska 3.

The institution originated as the National Gallery for Croatian Art in the early 1900s. In 1899, Izidor Kršnjavi presented the Art Society in Zagreb with a proposal to establish the gallery, an idea formally recorded in the Social Exhibitions Statute of 1901. In the spring of 1905, marking the Society's 30th anniversary, three works of art were purchased for the future holdings. This acquisition in 1905 is considered the official founding date of the gallery. The collection grew gradually from paintings and sculptures acquired by Art Society members, including a donation from Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer, but it was not opened for public viewing until 1914. At that time, it occupied a single room in the Museum of Arts and Crafts building and was accessible only to visitors demonstrating a special interest. As the holdings expanded, the gallery relocated to the Vranyczany Palace in 1934, where it has remained except for a pause during World War II. The palace underwent a complete renovation between 1993 and 2005, after which the current permanent exhibition opened to the public.

The museum holds the richest and most important collection of Croatian art from the 19th and 20th centuries. The holdings encompass approximately 10,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphics, medallions, medals, photographs, and new media. The permanent exhibition spans two floors of the palace and the main staircase, presenting over 700 works that situate individual artists within the broader context of the Croatian modern art scene and modern Croatian society. The gallery's mission, as articulated by its director Biserka Rauter Plančić, is to document the events and changes in Croatian art over two centuries of evolving perceptions of the world and workmanship. Beyond the permanent display, the museum organizes retrospectives and thematic exhibitions of Croatian and European modern art, hosts occasional exhibitions of local and foreign artists, and holds an annual New Acquisitions exhibition. It also publishes monographs and catalogues in a series titled Modern Croatian Art.

The permanent collection features a representative selection of 650 to 700 of the best works by Croatian painters, sculptors, and medal makers, presented in the exhibition Two Hundred Years of Croatian Fine Arts (1800-2000). Notable artists represented include Ljubo Babić, Vojin Bakić, Vlaho Bukovac, Ivan Meštrović, Robert Frangeš Mihanović, Miroslav Kraljević, Edo Murtić, Josip Račić, Slava Raškaj, Ivan Picelj, and Ivan Rendić. In 2009, the museum introduced the multi-sensory Tactile Gallery MG, allowing vision-impaired visitors to experience major Croatian modern paintings and sculptures through touch and sound. Special exhibitions have also highlighted key holdings, such as the first complete retrospective of Josip Račić's works from late 2008 to early 2009, and a 2010 multimedia exhibition on the iconography of towns in Croatian painting from the first half of the 20th century, which featured over 150 artifacts ranging from the Munich circle to the beginnings of abstract art.

The museum is housed in the Vranyczany Palace, a historic building in the center of Zagreb overlooking Zrinjevac Park. The Viennese architect Otto Hofer designed the palace, which was constructed in 1882 by Ferdo Kondrat for Baron Lujo Vranyczany. Since the end of the 19th century, the building has changed ownership frequently and undergone several restorations. Historically, the palace hosted prominent figures from Croatia's cultural, political, and economic life. In November 1884, Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer watched celebrations organized in his honor from the palace balcony, on the occasion of the opening of the gallery named after him. Following a comprehensive renovation from 1993 to 2005, two floors of the palace were transformed into a modern-equipped gallery, while the completely refurbished historic rooms maintain a contemplative atmosphere for viewing modern art.

The National Museum of Modern Art is located in the Vranyczany Palace in the center of Zagreb, Croatia, overlooking Zrinjevac Park. In addition to its main palace location, the institution operates a secondary gallery, the Josip Račić Studio, situated at Margaretska 3. The museum maintains an official website for public access and information.