The National Museum of Modern Art / NMMA is a museum of fine arts that surveys the development of traditional art disciplines from the mid-19th century to the present day. The founder of the NMMA is the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia. In 1899, the idea of such a museum was conceived by the painter, art historian and politician Izidor Kršnjavi who proposed to the Zagreb Art Society the establishment of a Municipal Gallery of Modern Paintings that would collect artworks by Croatian artists. It was officially founded in 1905, when the Society commissioned the first three works by then contemporary artists. Thus, the gallery started operating as a department of the Art Society focused on patronizing contemporary national art and facilitating the development of artistic production. The National Museum of Modern Art, with a collection of 12,000 works of art, is a direct successor of the Art Society Gallery. Since 1934, the NMMA has been situated in a monumental palace built in 1883 by Hon. Ljudevit Vranyczany-Dobrinović, a businessman, merchant, politician and patron. In 1939, the Banovina of Croatia bought the Palace to accommodate then Modern Gallery. After the last in a series of renovations conducted according to the standards of contemporary museology and carried out during the 1990s, the two floors of the Palace, with depos and offices, were renovated into exhibition galleries designed to present the museum collection, including solo and group exhibitions. The chronological display of the Collection, which surveys the development of national art and its connection with international movements, is located on the second floor of the building. The north-west wing of the first floor presents phenomenological curatorial research and interpretations of the Collection, and the south-east wing is dedicated to the temporary retrospective and monographic solo exhibitions and thematic group exhibitions. Since 1992, the Josip Račić Gallery located in the heart of Zagreb's central pedestrian zone, with a program of solo exhibitions has been a constituent part of the NMMA.
Museum's brief history
1901 The Art Society in Zagreb decided to establish the Gallery of Modern Paintings
1914 The Croatian Society of Arts exhibits commissioned and donated artworks at the Museum of Arts and Crafts and thus opens the Modern Gallery to the public.
1934 The Modern Gallery opens in the Vranyczany Palace, its current seat.
1939 The Banovina of Croatia buys the Vranyczany Palace for the Modern Gallery.
1940 With the agreement between the Banovina of Croatia and the Croatian Art Society Zagreb-Split, the Modern Gallery obtains the status of a state institution.
1942 The Italian embassy moves into the Vranyczany Palace. During the war, the Modern Gallery organized exhibitions at the Art Pavilion and operated under the name Croatian State Gallery.
1st July 1945 The Modern Gallery returns to the Vranyczany Palace.
1946 The museum operated under the auspices of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of Croatia under the name Modern Gallery in Zagreb.
1947 The Government of the People's Republic of Croatia passes a decision transferring the Modern Gallery to the authority of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts.
1974 With the entry in the court register at the District Commercial Court in Zagreb, the Modern Gallery completes the process of separation from the Academy.
1992 Referring to the Act on the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, amidst the Homeland War the Academy registered itself as the owner of the Vranyczany Palace.
1994 Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia becomes appointed founder of the Modern Gallery.
2021 The Modern Gallery changes its name to the National Museum of Modern Art.