The Czech Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1963 as part of a network of regional public galleries in what was then Czechoslovakia. It began its activity at Nelahozeves Castle near Prague, then later in tree reconstructed historical houses in the Old Town of Prague. The cellar of this group of Baroque buildings is a rare example of secular Romanesque architecture. The Czech Museum of Fine Arts focuses on modern and contemporary art, and has built up a comprehensive collection of paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings by Czech artists as well as those from other countries. Its collection features works from the beginning of Czech Modernism, the Surrealist period, a broad selection of works representing the panorama of the 1940s, works from the circle of Czech Art Informel and geometric abstraction. Since the beginning of the 1990s its acquisition activity has been aimed at supplementing the collection with works from the 1960s up to the present day.
In 1994 The Czech Museum of Fine Arts opened a major new venue at the reconstructed House of the Black Madonna, an important example of Czech Cubist Architecture. In this unique building, the Museum installed a permanent exhibition of Czech Cubism, including painting, sculpture, architectural designs and applied art such as furniture, ceramics and fabric design. The House of the Black Madonna also serves as a venue for temporary exhibitions, which have included Italian Futurism, the weimar Bauhaus, Jiri Kolar from the Collection of Jan and Meda Mladek, Lyonel Feininger, Henri Laurens, Josef Hoffmann, Antoine Bourdelle and His Pupils - Alberto Giacometti, Germaine Richier and Otto Gutfreund.
THE CZECH MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
Husova 19-21, 110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
E-mail: cmvu@ecn.cz
http://www.ecn.cz/cmvu